Draco Malfoy and the Rise of the Phoenix
by FenraAsgilli
Summary: This is a story of rebirth, rising from the ashes of what was, and becoming something more. The characters and world are the property of J.K. Rowling. The possibilities and Marcus Drake, are mine. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think.
1. Prologue

**Draco Malfoy and the Rise of the Phoenix**

**Prologue**

He was so tired and yet as he looked around the Great Hall he saw so many others who were even more tired than he was. The battle was ended, they won, but they didn't celebrate much, or laugh, or smile. Instead they sat in small groups, heads bowed. From many eyes tears streaked their dust covered faces. Those tears would continue to fall, on and off, for some time to come. He could hear whispers around him, some were about him, but he tuned them out, they were unimportant at this time.

His gaze continued to move over the Great Hall, where everybody sat in small groups, no longer separated by house but collected instead in families and friends. Those who lived when so many others hadn't, the survivors. Dust continued to settle in the large chamber, floating like a fine cloud in the air, making everything look just a little misted. He looked up, to the ceiling, wondering what the night must look like on this, a day like no other before it. A small noise escaped his throat, and his eyes became moist at the sight above him. The magic that had amazed so many was cracked, you could see the stars in parts but in other areas there was nothing but blank stone. He never realized just how much that image, that mirror of the world, had meant to him.

His companions heard his intake of breath and looked at him curiously but he avoided their eyes. They were the last ones he wanted to see him showing emotions like this. He needed to hide what he was feeling from everybody.

He needed to think, to plan, to figure out just what he was supposed to do now, now that it was all over. Voldemort was dead, his followers were being rounded up at this moment. But where to go from here? He needed to go someplace else, somewhere quiet and away from...everything and he feared….everyone.

He stood up from the table, and felt a hand on each arm, holding him in place, keeping him from leaving. He looked down at them, silently considering them and what they meant to him, what they had helped him do and how it seemed they had always been an overwhelming part of his life.

In what seemed like hours but was really only seconds he came to the conclusion that he couldn't stay with them anymore. They wouldn't follow where he was going next, they couldn't. But they would argue with him, trying to change his mind. He wouldn't be shocked if they tried to do even more than talk. But it was too late for that now, he had been thinking about this for years, in the back of his head, hiding where he couldn't see it until he was ready to accept it.

He pulled away from them, turning to walk away. They stood as though to follow him but then looked around and sat back down. They were more concerned with being noticed than they were with him. He walked out of the hall, the whispers following, but fading until he couldn't hear them anymore.

Wandering through the damaged castle he didn't know where he was going. He moved along the empty halls, noticing that the dust was even thicker out here, making him sneeze. Broken stone, and empty armor littered the floor, he had to step carefully in places where the stone beneath his feet was cracked and uneven. Though nearly everything was coated in a thickening blanket of the dust in the area, everywhere he looked he saw that which caused him the most pain. Blood was everywhere, on the walls, the floor, pooled in corners but no longer wet. The final proof of the evil that had been done here this day. His own losses barely registered, they would haunt him later though, he knew that.

He still didn't know where he was going, but he wasn't surprised when he got there either. He glanced at the Gargoyle, leaning drunkenly in the hallway. "Don't mind me." it says, "Go on up."

His legs felt like lead as he slowly climbed the spiraling staircase, uncertain of what to expect when he reached the top. But he knew this was where he needed to be, he just wasn't sure why. He stopped at the door at the top of the staircase, his hand reaching for the doorknob but stopping just short. He pulled his hand back and turned away from the door. Going back down the stairs a short way he stopped and sat on the stone stair. He dropped his head into his hands. "What am I doing here?"

He lifted his head, as though he had heard something, pausing to listen closely. When he heard nothing more he squared his shoulders and stood up. If he wanted any chance at a normal life he needed to start now and this was the first step. He went back to the door and turned the handle, slowly allowing the door to swing open.

The room appeared untouched by the battle, other than the ever-present dust. He saw the Pensive sitting on the desk, left there after its last use. Many of the pictures surrounding the room were empty, but one, the largest, was occupied. Hanging behind the headmasters' desk and chair Dumbledore smiled slightly, a twinkle in his crinkled blue eyes. Still young after over a 100 years.

"Hello Draco, I was hoping you would stop by."

**This is the end of my prologue, I hope you enjoyed it. This is my first go at writing and I am not sure how often I will update this, at least once a week I would think. Please, let me know your opinion.**


	2. A Beginning

Chapter 1

**A Beginning**

At 10:30 on September the 1st, Draco stood on Platform 9 ¾. His trunk, owl and broom settled on the platform next to him. It had been over 3 months since what had become known as the Battle for Hogwarts and school was starting again. He was going back to finish his 7th year, among other things.

His hair was no longer the nearly white it used to be, he had allowed it to grow in a more natural shade of blondish brown. This is the color it would have been had it not be altered by his parents in order to make more of a statement. His face was tanned, not the nearly deathly pale it used to be. His parents didn't approve of sun, it caused freckles and freckles were something Mudblood's had, not Pure-blood's.

Because of these minor differences, it took people some time to recognize him, but when they did, word spread fast. Suddenly, there was a good five feet between him and everybody else on the platform. They moved around him now, like fish avoiding a shark.

He wasn't surprised, he had expected this. But he knew it was going to get worse, especially if he couldn't convince them. He picked up his owl with one hand and the handle of his trunk with the other. The owl was new, he had obtained her over the summer, her name, he thought, was very appropriate. A Great Grey Owl, named Belleza. Oddly enough, she actually liked him.

As he moved toward the train, he couldn't help but be pleased, a small smile working its way onto his face. Very different from past smiles, it was an actual smile, not his typical smirk. He was going back, he had a chance to make his life what it should have been, had he had as many choices as people seemed to think he did. He couldn't blame them, it's not like he ever made any effort to change the status quo, why would he, he was the Prince, everything was as he wished it to be. Or at least, that is what everybody thought anyway.

He could have used his wand to move his trunk, but he thought that the less notice he attracted, the better. Besides, him pulling out a wand could cause a panic and he didn't really feel like suffering any hexes this year. At least not this early and not ones he hadn't earned fair and square.

Since it was still early there were plenty of open cars on the train, he chose one and lifted his trunk into place, settling Belleza on the rack beside it.

He didn't realize how much he missed the noise of the train, the hustle and bustle. The smells of the steam engine, potion ingredients, animals and food brought on unexpected feelings. The chatter of the students, greeting each other after 3 months apart; new students sounding worried as parents calmed them or excited as they began a whole new journey for themselves. It was refreshing in a way, almost life affirming. God knew, the wizarding world needed to feel normal again.

He had set down, his head back, and eyes closed, simply taking in the sounds and scents around him when he heard his compartment door open. He looked over and saw a tall young man there, clutching his frog.

This young man had changed more in the last 7 years than anybody else he knew. No longer pudgy and clumsy, but rather, surprisingly strong, tall and while not 100% confident, 1000% better than he used to be. Neville Longbottom had become a man, a hero of The Battle for Hogwarts. He had fought unceasingly against the atrocities of the Deatheaters who had held the school last year. A small thread of envy creeped into Draco but he ruthlessly crushed it.

"Hey, you saving for anybody?" Neville asked.

Obviously Neville didn't recognize him, not yet anyway. Draco wondered what would happen when he did. Neville had never been one to go for his wand right away, he always waited, watching to see what the other would do, never assuming. Of course, that was before.

"No, I'm not saving it." Draco replied, expecting to be recognized now. However, with none of the usual nasty nasally drawl in his voice, it was almost completely different from how he used to sound; it shouldn't have surprised him that Neville still didn't realize, but it was. After a moment's pause, he gestured to the unoccupied seat across from him.

Neville moved into the compartment, his trunk dragging behind him. Draco stood to help him push the trunk onto the rack opposite from his, but before he could settle back down, Luna Lovegood walked in.

Luna smiled slightly, her eyes impossible to see behind the strange glasses she was wearing. Draco couldn't help but feel his eyebrows rise up in surprise. In the past he would have said something truly nasty and he couldn't pretend, even to himself, that his first thought was not his best, but again he cruelly tamped it down. Instead all he said was: "Would you like some help with your trunk?".

"Oh yes, thank you, it is so hard to concentrate when Wrackspurts are flying around your head you know. And they keep making me forget to move along." Draco gave a little sniff of a laugh and moved Luna's trunk up beside his own, bracketing Belleza.

When he turned back Luna had settled herself next to Neville and they were saying their end of break hello's, which didn't take very long as neither of them were big talkers. Or thinkers, but again, he cut that line of thought short. After the way they had handled themselves over the last few years, he knew looks could be deceiving and he refused to allow himself to be deceived like that again.

Neville suddenly turned to him, a slightly puzzled look on his face. "I'm sorry, but are you a transfer from Beauxbaton, you seem awfully familiar but I can't quite place you. I'm Neville Longbottom." and with this he reached across and offered his hand for Draco to shake.

Draco reached out and took the hand, a small smile playing around his mouth and had just opened his mouth to speak when Luna piped up.

"Of course he's not silly. He's just changed his appearance, probably to help him hide from us." Luna stated, as she pulled out a magazine, turned it over and began to read it upside down.

Draco switched his attention to Luna and found himself staring at her, a shocked expression on his face. She said it so matter-of-factly; it was like she didn't even care who he was. He found himself torn between admiration for her courage and concern for her foolishness. If he had wanted he could have hurt her and yet it didn't seem like she was even worried.

He looked back to Neville, catching his eye, the puzzled look even stronger. "Hi Neville, how was your summer?"

Neville looked confused for a moment, but he was studying Draco closely, and then suddenly his eyes widened and he yanking his hand out of Draco's, sat back in his seat. Pushed up against the back of the seat he was trying to pull his wand out.

"Malfoy!"

Neville practically spat the name at him, still trying to pull out his wand. Draco raised his hands to either side of his head, appearing as unthreatening as he could. He had hoped Neville wouldn't react like this, at least so quickly, but the past can change people.

"I would appreciate if you didn't use your wand just yet. I have no intention of causing any trouble I swear. Also, just to get this out there, I would also appreciate your not calling me Malfoy, I prefer not to use that name anymore. If you feel you can call me something, please, just make it plain Draco."

He kept his tone natural, non-threatening. He didn't want to push Neville into doing something that at least Draco would regret. He decided to get right to the point.

"Listen Neville, I understand your concern, I really do. But I am not the same jackass I used to be. I'd appreciate a chance to prove that before I get hexed into the infirmary before class even starts. I may never gain your or anybody's trust, but I also don't plan on letting myself get beaten down because of the past."

He had kept his hands up and his tone very neutral, not even a hint of a sneer made it past his lips. Actually when he thought about it, he hadn't sneered since he had walked out of the Great Hall over 3 months ago. Interesting.

Luna looked up over her magazine at Draco. "Don't worry Neville, he's changed, completely. Really surprising though, I never thought you would go through with it. It's really nice to meet you."

Once again Luna had his full attention, surprise and confusion on his face this time. He was amused to find, the same look on Neville's face. Luna just put her head back behind the magazine.

This might not be such a horrible year after all. Of course, he still had to deal with Potter and his friends and he doubted that would go nearly as smoothly, but it was a beginning.

**Let me know what you think, I'm not really sure how long this chapter is. You might find most of them fairly short or they could turn out to be very long. Still new at this.**

**9/16: I've made some updates to assist with flow both in the chapter and the story.**


	3. A Bitter Pill

Chapter 2

**A Bitter Pill**

"What are you talking about Luna?!" Neville practically yelled.

He finally managed to pull his wand out and while holding his toad in one hand, had the wand pointed at Draco with the other.

Luna sighed and looked up over her magazine again, right at Draco. "If he was going to do anything, I think he would have by now." Luna stated in her singsong voice.

Neville looked back and forth between them, clearly confused. Slowly he relaxed, his grip on the toad loosening and set his wand in his lap, but not feeling secure enough to put it away entirely.

"What game are you playing at Malfoy? Just who are you trying to fool with this act of yours? And what in the world did you do to your hair?"

Neville asked all of these questions quickly and with more bravado then Draco would have given him credit for in the past.

"I'm not playing at anything, really. I know it will take time for anybody to believe that, probably years in some cases, maybe never in others. But in the end that really doesn't matter, I have loads of reasons for what I am doing." Draco said, looking between Neville and Luna...though Luna appeared to have lost interest already. Again a small snort of a laugh escaped him.

These laughs were so foreign coming from Draco, they seemed completely reflex. It wasn't forced, hollow and mocking like his laugh had always been before. Neville found them more disconcerting than anything else that had happened so far. He narrowed his eyes and glared at Draco for a moment and then turned back to Luna. Deliberately changing the subject and excluding Draco.

"How is your dad Luna? I heard he got a little banged up when Harry was at your place, is he ok?" Neville asked.

"Oh yes, Daddy's fine, he is trying to repair the horn of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack that was damaged while Harry, Hermione and Ron were there. But so far he's not having much luck. Whenever he puts a few pieces back together they just blow up again. It must have been cursed when all those bad people were attacking. I think he will just have to wait until it is ready to repair itself. I told him that, but Daddy can be very impatient sometimes." Luna sighed "It's really too bad, they are so rare, I don't think anybody has found one in centuries."

Neville opened his mouth, as though he was about to say something, but then changed his mind. Draco, not knowing Luna as well as Neville, didn't hold back.

"What's a Crumple-Horned Snor..Snor.., what's that?"

Neville glanced over at him, a slightly exasperated look on his face but then returned to ignoring him.

"Oh, Daddy wrote all about them in his magazine, I can give you a copy if you like, they are really quite amazing, a very shy and elusive magical creature." This was the most animated that Draco had ever seen Luna. Her eyes, what he could see of them, seemed to sparkle and her lips were curved in a small smile.

Draco cleared his throat and looked away from her, out onto the platform, "Well, maybe later Luna."

The train's horn sounded, signaling it was ready to depart. He saw other kids out on the platform moving away from their parents and rushing aboard. He thought for a moment he saw a flash of long pale hair but chose to ignore it, bringing his attention back inside.

The express started to move and Draco was suddenly filled with a nearly overwhelming dread. It was as though he were, once again, headed somewhere where he had no control over his own life. It caused his stomach to churn, and the metallic taste of too much adrenalin filled his mouth. He knew he was on the verge of panic and his breath sped up. He felt his heart rate increase and the memories he chose to keep locked up, tried to push their way into the open.

He came back to himself with a start when he felt a small hand on his where it lay next to him on the seat. Luna had quietly moved across and taken his hand with hers. He turned to look at her and was caught in her eyes.

"Shhh, it's ok, they are gone now, that can't follow you." These words were said so quietly that he barely heard her and he knew that Neville didn't.

He took a deep breath, almost cleansing breath, and looked back out to the platform as it slid out of sight. His heart felt lighter again, it's beat slowing to normal and the panic fading. He watched until he saw the green countryside flowing past the windows.

He turned back to Luna and mouthed a silent thank you. She immediately returned to reading her paper, ignoring him once again.

"So, how was your summer Neville?" Draco asked, turning to him.

Neville stared at him for a moment before saying, "What's it matter to you? And why are you calling me Neville, you've never called anybody by their first name before?"

Draco thought about that for a moment, it was true, he had never called anybody by their first name, not even his "friends". "Honestly? I'm not really sure, but if you would prefer I call you by your last name I will try. Though I would prefer not to."

"Why not?"

That was a good question. "I can't really explain it, and even if I could, I doubt you would believe me. Listen, I just want to get through this year without all the drama, most of which I caused or made worse." Draco stood up and Neville flinched, half lifting the wand he had not let go. "I'm going to go for a walk, I'll understand if you aren't here when I get back, but.." Draco looked at Luna, "I don't want you to leave either."

With that Draco slid open the door and stepped into the corridor. He looked around and noticed a number of students he recognized in the passageway with him, he recognized some of them, but most, even the higher years were new faces to him. He had been so self-absorbed in the past he never noticed anybody unless he could control them, or he considered them his enemy. It was a pathetic way to live, he knew that now. There were more than two kinds of people in the world; the last few years had taught him that.

He started down the corridor, glancing briefly in different cars, looking for a particular group. He paused for a moment at a car filled with some Slytherin 6th years he knew, but didn't go in. Half way down the train he found the group he was looking for. He stood at one side of the door, half concealed as he looked through the window. Potter, Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley were all in the room, chatting and laughing together.

He considered moving past, but a bitter pill should be taken quickly. He tapped lightly on the door, catching their attention, before sliding the door open and stepping into the opening.

At first they all wore looks of slight confusion, his altered appearance not quite registering. Ginny even opened her mouth, as though to start asking either who he was, or what he wanted. But almost simultaneously they recognized him, except Ron, but Ron always was just a step behind. He more than made up for it though, in other ways.

Potter, Ginny and Hermione stood, hands going for wands. Draco lifted his hands again, making no sudden movements. He should probably expect to spend some time in this pose over the next year, at least at first. "Wait, I'm not here to cause trouble, I just wanted to talk to you all. May I come in, I'd like to keep this private for as long as possible?"

Ron stood up then, a question on his face. "What's going on, why are you guys freaking out?"

"Hi Ron." Draco said, but didn't take his eyes off Potter, "All of you have every reason to freak out, I've not given you any reason not to in the past anyway."

"Malfoy!?" Ron asked shocked, "What the bloody hell happened to you, why are you coming in here, what do you want?"

"That's a really good question, what _do_ you want Malfoy?" Harry asked.

**Well, end of chapter 2, I hope you guys like it. Let me know what you think, and as I have seen others say, please vote, if you felt it deserved it anyway :) I am not 100% on this chapter, I may tweak it a little, but so far, I'm liking where it is headed.**

**9/16: A little bit of rewrite to improve flow.**


	4. The Legacy of Malfoy

Chapter 3

**The Legacy of Malfoy**

Draco regarded the four witches and wizards in front of him, the four people he had caused the most trouble and that his family had nearly destroyed at one point or another. He wished he had more time, but now was the only chance he would have to get them alone, in private and without an audience. If they didn't listen or at least give him a chance, his year was going to be pure hell.

"Like I said, I just want to talk. My wand is in my back pocket if you want to hold on to it, but I need to say my piece." Draco turned around slowly; so they could see the wand poking out.

He glanced over his shoulder when nothing happened and everybody's attention was on Harry, who still had his wand leveled at Draco's back. He could see the emotions running across Harry's face, anger and disgust of course, that was to be expected. A tension that implied he was ready for whatever Draco might try, but finally, curiosity mixed with distrust. Draco knew he would get his chance to talk, Harry had always been soft that way, this time though, Draco didn't intend to use it against him.

"Ginny, please remove his wand and hold it for him while we talk." Harry's choice of words was very specific; Draco knew it to mean that Ginny was not _taking_ his wand from him, which meant it was still Draco's wand. He appreciated the distinction, especially after what happened last year.

"You can turn around now. Everybody else, put up your wands. I don't think Draco is going to try anything at this point." Harry said.

As Draco turned around he lowered his hands, relaxing a little. The others were putting their wands away. Ginny and Ron seemed to be doing so reluctantly but they did it. Ginny never took her eyes off Draco and the others kept looking back and forth between him and Harry.

"Thanks Harry." Draco said simply. He took a step into the room, and closed the sliding door behind him. He looked over the compartment and realized, he didn't have anywhere to sit and he got a slightly chagrined look on his face. Looking at Harry again he said, "Um, would you mind? This might take some time and I think everybody would be more comfortable if we were all sitting." He made a little circling motion with his finger toward the floor.

One eyebrow rose all the way to Harry's hairline and caused his scar to be lost in the folds of his forehead. "Oh, I don't think this will take that long. Now what did you want to get off your chest Malfoy, and why should we listen?" Harry asked.

Draco took a deep breath; he hoped he got this right and that his legs would hold up long enough.

"I would like to start out by saying, you don't _have_ to listen, but I would be in your dept, even more than I already am, if you would please try. This might be something of a long story, so when the cart comes by in a few minutes, we might want to get something to eat and drink, I know I will need something wet, if you guys let me say all I need to anyway." He was glad he had timed this right as he just heard the trolley in the passageway.

Harry paused and Draco thought he was disagreeing again but then he asked Ron to get them all something. When Draco handed Ron his money Ron took it with the tips of two fingers and wiped it on his pants. After Ron returned and passed out the food and drinks, practically throwing Draco's at him, the four friends sat back down, sitting just a little stiffly, unable to completely relax. Harry and Ginny were on his left and Ron and Hermione were on his right. The girls, he noticed, were both against the window, putting the young men between him and them.

Draco cleared his throat and began. "First, what I am about to say is not intended to excuse my behavior in the past or imply that I might never make a mistake in the future, though I sure hope I won't." He had been running this conversation through in his mind for the last month and he hoped he at least made sense.

"In some ways I think part of why I treated you the way I did Harry, was because, whether you knew it or not, we had a lot in common." Harry opened his mouth and Draco raised his hand, "Please let me finish. I know your time away from school was bad, your Aunt and Uncle treated you pretty crappy. While it may have appeared otherwise on the surface, my summers and first eleven years were not much better."

Harry and the others looked like thunderclouds and Ron spoke up, "How dare you compare what Harry went through with your pampered prince life, you have no idea."

"Actually, I have a pretty good idea, both from things I heard in school and from other sources. However, the pampered prince thing is hardly accurate. While I may have had whatever physical items I wanted that hardly made up for the abuse I took from my parents, specifically from my Father. If you think he was hard on you guys, imagine what he did to a son who didn't measure up, that was maybe a little too _soft."_

Draco paused, this was the part he least wanted to talk about but most had to say.

"When I was about four I found a stray cat, it was just a couple months old, dirty, hungry. I took it home with me, I wanted to help it. I had never had a pet before, I even named it, Merlin, he was going to be all mine. Like any child would, I already loved it." The others looked at each other, knowing Lucius Malfoy as they did, this was hardly going to end well.

"I brought it to my Father, so happy to have a kitten and asked him if I could keep it. My Father sneered; of course, he always sneered, and demanded that I get rid of it. I got upset, said no, I wanted to keep it. I promised I would take care of it, it would never cause him any trouble, I begged, as a four year old will do." Draco looked down at the ground "My Father called for our house elf Dobby, I always liked Dobby, he was nice and fun when he was with me. Well, he called for Dobby and while looking at me, told Dobby to take the cat, draw it a bath and then drown it. Of course Dobby did exactly as he was told; he had no choice, though I didn't realize that at the time. I begged Dobby not to do it, I started to cry when Dobby managed to get the kitten from me. It had started meowing quite a bit and was struggling to get away, scared. Dobby vanished and I never saw the cat again. My Father hit me, causing me to fall down. I was surprised; he had never hit me before. While I stared up at him, he insisted it was for my own good. He stated that the Malfoy name must not be sullied by any common elements."

Draco took a minute to open his Butterbeer and took a long drink. He took the opportunity to look at the others, Ginny and Hermione had a look of horror on their faces and Ron looked disbelieving. But Harry looked intent and then lifting his his wand, he conjured a chair for Draco, it wasn't as uncomfortable as he would have expected either. Draco sat down and continued.

"I told my Mother later what had happened, she told me to do what my Father told me and to never do anything like this again. She held me, I guess to be comforting, but since there was no sympathy involved it kind of fell flat, even to a small kid. Because of what Dobby had to do, I never trusted him again, I had thought he was my friend, but he hurt the cat only because my Father told him to. It was a long time before I understood he had no choice and by then, my attitudes had been pretty well set and I couldn't forgive him. Actually, I didn't see a reason to forgive him to be honest, he was just a House Elf."

"While our exact details may vary, I think you can agree Harry, that there are all different kinds of abuse and the impact it can have, whether physical or emotional is very real."

Harry nodded, "Yes, that's true, my Aunt and Uncle were emotionally abusive as well as physically on occasion, the physical was easier to handle."

Draco nodded in agreement.

"While my Mother was always affectionate in public, it was for show. She was not willing to go against my Father. So anything he said was the rule of the land. For example, she held me after the incident with the cat, but that was all, when I tried to get her to make Father change his mind she refused. '_Your Father knows best.' _She would say, as long as I didn't do anything contrary to what Father wanted I was fine."

"For a while I had one escape. My Grandfather, on my Father's side, was less driven than my Father. While he also had the, shall we say, belief in _Pure Blood Supremacy_, he was not obsessed with it. He refused to have anything to do with Voldemort and thought he was an upstart. I would spend hours with him on the weekends and when Mother and Father went on holiday's. He was, for the most part, kind, while still being a Malfoy. But Father didn't really approve of him and would have kept me away if not for Grandfather's influence and position as Head of the Family, there was not a whole lot he could do about it. When Grandfather died, he left me a sizable amount of gold that came to me when I turned 18."

"The story of what happened when I was four was just an example of some of the things that have happened in my life. They helped shape me, made me who I was and influenced how I behaved and the things I did. Again, this is not an excuse, it's an explanation. In the last two years I have done a lot of thinking. At first there was nothing I could do, or at least, nothing I was willing to do, to change matters. Voldemort made it very clear that if I didn't kill Professor Dumbledore he would kill my parents and me, very slowly and only after he let Aunt Bellatrix have us for a while. But even with that threat, I couldn't go through with it."

Harry interrupted, "I know, I was there when you faced Professor Dumbledore, I know you couldn't do it. Dumbledore had faith in you Draco."

"You _**were**_ there? I had heard rumors, but I didn't know for sure." Draco looked down at his lap, the now empty Butterbeer bottle still there. He set it down on the floor next to him and opened the second bottle.

"After Snape did the job," Draco did sneer now, for the first time since he left the Headmaster's office months ago. "I couldn't stay at the school of course, so I had to go back to my house. The begging and bootlicking of my Father began to disgust me, he whined every time he spoke to Voldemort and Snape was Voldemort's most trusted man now. My Father couldn't stand that. But my Mother was starting to change, she would look at my Father and there was a look in her eyes that I had never seen before."

"Later when we were all upstairs, my Father became angry with me, he was furious, he claimed I had ruined his place with Voldemort. It was because I failed that Snape was now in such a powerful position and he hit me, many times. For the first time my Mother interfered. She used her wand to push my Father back and told him to never touch me again." Draco smiled a little at the memory.

"Anyway, after you all escaped last spring, nobody told Voldemort, and since he was out of the country he couldn't read it from our minds either. We were all just waiting, not sure what was going to happen next. Aunt Bellatrix was in a state, worried about the bank and what you all knew but even she was terrified to call for Voldemort so it was all just conveniently forgotten when nothing new happened.

"But then the bank was broken into, and Voldemort went missing for a while. Next thing we knew you had been sighted at the school, so we all headed that way. Crabbe, Goyle and I headed there through the vanishing cabinet. We stood inside for a long time while nothing happened and then it sent us through to the room of requirements. That was when we found you Harry, I just wanted to take you alive, take you back to Voldemort. I don't even know _why_ I thought that was a good idea, it's not like anything would get better if you were dead. I loud voice in the back of my head kept screaming at me to let you go, again. But fear is a powerful motivator and I was always better at being scared than being brave."

"Well, you know how things went after that." Draco said, "After the battle was over, for some reason my parents weren't arrested, neither was I and I had no idea why. But while we sat in the Great Hall, I came to a decision. I could not and would not be what I had been raised to be anymore. If I was going to do this though, I could not be with my parents either. I left, and have spent the last summer starting to figure myself out. I don't know where I am going to end up, but I do know it is going to be a better place than I was headed before."

Draco stopped, "Ok, I'm done. I just wanted to tell you guys this, I wanted you to know that I will not be making any trouble for you this year, or in the future. I would say you don't have to watch your backs, but that would be foolish, not only should you watch your backs I might be able to help. With Voldemort gone there is a power vacuum that somebody might try to fill and we're all going to be targets. So we'll have that in common as well. I'll let you know if I hear or see anything that might be a problem." He paused and asked "Any questions?"

Harry looked at Draco for what seemed like a minute and his face was unreadable. Then he turned to Ginny. "Ginny, I think you have Draco's wand."

**Ok, this was a LONG chapter, I hope you liked it.**

**Please vote and I would love to hear, or read as the case may be, your opinions.**

**9/16: Updated to improve flow**


	5. The Questioners

Chapter 4

**The Questioners**

When Harry mentioned Draco's wand Ginny looked surprised.

"Are you sure Harry?"

"Yes." Harry replied

Ginny sighed and handed the wand to Harry who then passed it to Draco. Draco nodded a quick thanks and tucked the wand into his back pocket.

"Draco, if what you say is true, I appreciate your telling us. It can't have been easy, I know." Harry began, "However, don't think it's going to make everything better either. You have spent years trying to hurt us and that will take time, and proof that you've truly have changed, before it can be forgiven."

"I know."

"So you said we could ask questions, I have one." Said Ron "Why have you changed how you look?"

"I haven't changed actually, I just allowed myself to return to my natural look." Draco replied "My parents had a very specific…..hmmm, image, they wanted to present. The extremely light hair was part of that image. It made my father and mother stand out and they prefer it that way. When I was born and my hair was this rather standard color, they decided to change it."

Hermione popped in at that point, "So they dyed your hair?"

"I'm not sure what that means, they didn't kill it and replace it, they just changed the color." Draco replied.

"For Muggles, if they want to change their hair color they use a mixture of colors, kind of like a potion, to change it, from brown to blond say." Harry explained.

"Really?" Draco said, a look of surprise on his face "I didn't know they could do that."

"Me either." Ron and Ginny said together.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and smiled a little. It was nice when they could get one over on those who didn't know much about the non-magical world. It made up for it when they were surprised by something from the Wizarding world that everybody else took for granted.

"Anyway" Draco continued, "They also ensured my skin was even more pale than normal, even for England, and ensured my overall look was very distinctive.

"When I left at the end of last term I stopped changing my hair and let it grow back it's normal color, and then when I was traveling I got a bit tanned. I am physically, more myself now than I ever was in the past."

Ginny asked the next question. "Why is your voice so different?"

"It's not, I'm just not always talking out my nose anymore, the tones and tenor of my voice before was an affectation. I was copying my father. I stopped. To tell you the truth, it used to hurt my throat to talk that way all the time."

"Why didn't you tell somebody, a teacher or something, they may have been able to help?" Hermione asked.

"It's not that easy Hermione. You never reach a point….I mean, it is hard to know that anything is wrong. I'm not sure I'm explaining this right. I didn't know that I was being treated badly. How would I know that?" Draco tried to answer this question but it wasn't easy, then Harry helped again.

"When the only thing you have ever known is the abuse, you don't know there is something wrong with it. It is normal, everyday, life. Without a frame of reference, which you don't have when you are little, there is nothing to tell you what is right and what is wrong." Harry said.

"Yes, exactly, even when I went to school, I still didn't interact with other kids and their parents, so I still didn't know that what happened at home wasn't the same for everybody. Eventually I figured it out when I read the stories about Harry in the Daily Prophet during our 4th year. I realized that if the paper was telling the story like this, than it couldn't be normal." Draco added.

"How can we trust that you're not just switching sides because Voldemort lost?" This from Ginny

Draco took a deep breath and let it out. "I can't answer that one for you, only time will prove my intentions, unless you want to try Veritaserum on me. I would be willing but remember, that misuse can cause permanent damage, so I would want to be involved in it's making and administration."

"Let's just store that option in the boot for now. But we are not going to go there unless we have to." Harry said.

"After not killing Dumbledore, and then not giving me away at your house, why did you come after me in the Room of Requirement?" Harry's turn.

This was the question Draco had no decent answer for. "Because, my Father ordered me to. I was to capture you and return to the Dar….to Vold. You know what, no, I did it because it was too weak to stand up for myself and tell him that I wouldn't do it anymore and that I wanted out."

Everybody was quiet for a minute, no new questions coming his way. Draco stood, "I should probably go now, we're getting close to the school and we still need to get into our robes."

"Draco wait." Harry said "There are a couple of things you need to know."

"Ok?" Draco sat back down.

"First, about your Mother. When I went to give myself up to Voldemort, he sent your Mother to see if I was dead. I was awake, and there was no way she would not know I was still alive. I thought for sure I was going to die anyway. However, when she stooped down to check me, and found I was still alive, she whispered a question to me. She wanted to know if you were still alive, when I indicated you were, she lied to Voldemort and said I was dead. That was an exceptionally brave thing your Mother did and I owed her, that's why you and your parents were given a reprieve."

Draco's face was unreadable, so Harry continued.

"Also, Professor Snape was _never_ Voldemort's man, or at least, he had not been since Voldemort killed my parents. While he couldn't stand me or my father, he had always cared for my Mother and when Voldemort killed her he lost Professor Snape. Since the Professor was an accomplished Occlumens and Voldemort couldn't read his mind, or at least, what he did get was a carefully sculpted lie, he never knew. Professor Snape killed Dumbledore at Dumbledore's request in order to protect you from having to do it. Both of them were protecting me and_ you _ the whole time."

Draco was silent for a minute, his head down so they couldn't see his face.

"I always wondered, why didn't you come after me when you found out my Father gave Ginny the Diary?"

Harry and Ron shared a look, "Um, because we knew for a fact that you didn't know."

"How did you know that?" Draco looked up.

"Let's save that story for another time, you're right, we're getting close to Hogsmede and should change."

Draco stood up again, "Thank you for giving me a chance to be heard. It's important to me that you know I am not going to be causing you anymore trouble."

"What are you going to do now?" Ron asked. "I mean, in the future?"

"I don't know, I'm taking things one day at a time right now." Draco replied. "See you at school."

Draco hurried back to his car, Neville and Luna were still there but were now in their school robes. He quickly pulled his out and put them on, even as the train was slowing to a halt.

A new year, a new beginning. He was going to make new enemies this year, that was unavoidable, but he hoped he had started to make some new friends as well. Only time would tell.

**Another chapter down and we've reached Hogsmede. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next, hope you are too. Remember to vote and comment and let me know how I am doing so I can make corrections and adjustments as I go. FenraAsgilli (FA) formerly known as TessaKing5.**

**9/16: Updated to improve flow**


	6. The Sorting Hat

Chapter 5

**The Sorting Hat**

The pandemonium that reigned when the train arrived was typical. Students milling about or heading toward the waiting carriages. The sounds of talking and laughter rang in the air. Draco closed his eyes for a moment, soaking in his surroundings before moving off himself toward the carriages in the road. You could clearly hear Hagrid yelling "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

As he approached the carriages he could see the magical winged creatures that pulled them. Apparently there were a number of students who could see them now. They were disturbing monsters to say the least, black, leathery and skeletal in appearance, they seemed like they would be fierce but they really weren't. Some of the students who had been in Hagrid's, no, _Professor Hagrid's, _class remembered them and were really looking them over.

Soon however, it was time to move on and everybody had found a space in a carriage. Draco shared his carriage with two girls and a boy, all a little younger than him. The girls seemed to be fast friends, one had short red hair and blue eyes, the other, long dark hair and brown eyes. He had seen them around before, and thought that the brown haired girl might be related to a girl he knew in Slytherin. The boy, even younger, just sat in his spot, staring out the window and remaining quiet, Draco was unable to see his face from this angle.

He wondered what the boy was thinking but chose not to start up a conversation, best to sit back and remain unnoticed for now he figured.

As Hogwarts came into view Draco was surprised as how normal it all looked. The damage done to the castle and its grounds only a few months ago seemed to have been completely cleared away. It looked as though nothing had happened.

Professor McGonagall was standing at the top of the steps when the students exited the carriages and started up toward the large double-door entrance to the school.

"I need all students who missed at least half a year last year to follow me please." The Professor said and turned away to walk into the school.

Draco, along with a number of other students looked around at each other and then moved quickly up and into the school. They followed Professor McGonagall into a room that they knew also opened into the dining call by the faculty table.

"All right, when I call your name please come to me for special instructions for this year."

Professor McGonagall called out a number of students that all appeared to be part of Gryffindor house, it was nearly half the number of students in the room. The ones Draco knew by sight were mostly from his year. Ron and Ginny Weasley, Harry, Hermione, Neville, Dean Thomas and it turned out the boy from his carriage was the little brother of the boy who died last year, Dennis Creevey, Draco knew it would be hard for him being back here.

They all moved forward and she spent a few minutes with each of them before releasing them to go through the door nearest the staff table to find their seats and join the feast.

She then called the names of people Draco knew to be in Hufflepuff house, those that he knew on sight were Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley and 3 others he didn't he didn't know the names of.

From Ravenclaw he knew Luna, and the two girls from his carriage were among them, with a better look he knew the brown haired girl was Daphne's sister.

He was the only one left, so he moved forward when Professor McGonagall looked up from her scroll.

"Mr. Malfoy, I trust we will have an uneventful year this year?" She stood straight as a poker and looked at him with her unblinking gaze from behind her distinctive glasses.

"Yes Ma'am, that is my intention."

"Well good, it was against my better judgment to allow you to return to make up for your missed year, but the opinions of others carried weight. You have people who have put their faith in you Mr. Malfoy, I trust you will not let them down."

"No Ma'am, I don't intend to."

"Well, since we have a dearth of students in the Slytherin dormitories this year, you will have a room to yourself. It has been redecorated to include 1 bed, with an additional study area allowing you a quiet place to work. You may be asked to assist in certain classes this year as well in order to help bring you back up to speed quickly. Do you intend to try out for the house team this year?"

"No Ma'am, but I would be willing to make myself available to assist with training if the Team Captain would like assistance."

"Very well, please report to your Head of House directly after the feast to discuss what classes you will be taking this year for your Newt's. The Slytherin Head of House is Professor Slughorn."

"That is all I have for you, please head to the door now, I believe the sorting is just wrapping up so you should be able to head down to your table without drawing undo attention." McGonagall said and then rolled up the scroll and set it on a side table on her way to the door.

She opened the door and Draco could hear Professor Sprout calling out a name. While Professor McGonagall continued into the room to take her seat he waited at the door. He saw that she took the seat reserved for the Headmaster and figured it was safe to assume that she was now the new Headmistress for Hogwarts.

He looked over the Professors seated at the head table. Professor Hagrid was obvious as he seemed to take up two spaces. Professors Fitwick, Slughorn and Sinistra were all there. Madam Hooch's bright yellow eye's glanced his way and widened slightly when she recognized him. There were two new teachers as well. He was surprised to see the Auror Dawlish sitting at the table and Draco assumed he was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and he didn't recognize the other one at all, though, there was something about him that was vaguely familiar. Professor Trelawney sat next to him, their heads close together and smiles on their faces. They seemed to know each other well.

Draco heard the Sorting Hat call out "Hufflepuff" and a decent round of applause came from the students of that table. He turned his attention to the Great Hall.

"Peters, Justin" Professor Sprout called. A moment later the hat called out Gryffindor and as usual there was a loud round of applause from that enthusiastic group.

The tables were mostly full, a normal amount of students at all but the Slytherin table, that table was unusually sparse. He guessed many parents didn't want to send their kids back to a school when so many of them had connections to the evils that had been done under Voldemort's reign.

"And finally, Wilkes, Jennifer" Professor Sprout called out, she was sorted into Hufflepuff as well.

As the young girl hurried to her table Draco saw Professor Sprout lift the hat in one hand and the stool in the other and head toward the door he was at. As she did so the Headmistress stood to gain everybody's attention.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts for another year…" she began, as Draco stepped out of the room and started down the steps toward the Slytherin table. As he was passing Professor Sprout however his arm brushed up against the Sorting Hat and suddenly a loud voice filled the Great Hall, causing the Headmistress to stop and look in Draco's direction.

**"What have you done!" **the Sorting Hat yelled in a shocked voice, as shocked as a hat can be of course, suddenly alive again in Professor Spouts hand.

Draco, who had been moving down the stairs, trying to remain unnoticed, whipped around at the yell, his foot slipped off the last step and he stumbled back, losing his balance and landing hard on the stone floor rump first.

Every student in the room turned to stare in his direction, those farther away standing to get a better view.

_"A thousand years, never been wrong….perfect record…how can this happen."_ The hat grumbled, just loud enough for Draco and Sprout to hear.

Professor Sprout looked over at the Headmistress, who gave a little jerk of her head toward the door leading off the raised dais. She looked back down at Draco and said, "Follow me Mr. Malfoy.". Draco scrambled back to his feet, looking around at all the faces whose eyes were focused on him. He blushed, ducked his head and went quickly back up the stairs and through the door.

As soon as he closed the door behind him Professor Sprout spoke. "What did you do Mr. Malfoy? Why would the Sorting Hat yell like that?"

"Nothing Professor, I swear, I was just heading to my table, I didn't do anything." Draco replied, a note of panic in his voice.

Sounds of grumbling continued to issue from the Hat in Professor Sprout's hand, she had set the stool down.

"Well, we will just have to see about that, I'm sure the Headmistress will be joining us as soon as she has started the feast. Then we will find out what is going on."

They didn't have long to wait before Professor's McGonagall and Slughorn came through the door. As usual the Headmistress was dignified and ramrod straight. Professor Slughorn looked put out; he didn't like missing the start of term feast and all that wonderful food.

"What happened Pomona, why did the hat yell like that?" The Headmistress went immediately to the point.

"I have no idea, it happened when I was passing Mr. Malfoy here and then it just started grumbling, going on about how it had never been wrong, and something about ruining it's record. It's grumbling now, hasn't stopped once."

"Set the hat on the stool; let's see what we can find out then. Mr. Malfoy, you will stay."

Draco was still stunned, he had no idea why the hat had done what it did, and he would much rather be anywhere else. He didn't want to get blamed for this, he hadn't done anything. He also couldn't help cringing inside every time they called him Mr. Malfoy, it just made him think of his father, which was something he would prefer not to do.

Professor Sprout set the hat on the stool and stepped back, everybody could see the rip at the brim moving, the mutters ongoing. McGonagall stepped up to it saying "Alright, enough of that, what are you going on about?" as she poked the hat lightly.

"Him! He's ruined everything, a perfect record and he's ruined it. I have to know for sure, only one way to know for sure, it's got to be done, though it's never been done before."

"What _are_ you rambling about, be specific or I'll put you in the wash and see how you hold up." The Headmistress said with some exasperation.

"Something has changed, and I need to know, I need to see." The hat said.

The Professors all looked at one another and then as one that turned to look at Draco. McGonagall spoke again. "Do you know anything about this Mr. Malfoy? Speak up now."

"No Headmistress, I don't know what is going on, I was just headed to my table and it yelled when the Professor and I were passing each other. I didn't do anything, I promise."

The Headmistress thought for a moment, "Very well, Pomona, take Mr. Malfoy up to my office along with the Sorting Hat, stay with him there until I can join you after the feast. Make sure he has something to eat. Horace, you come with me to the feast but you will join me in my office afterward." Everybody nodded and Draco's concern mounted.

It was only a few minutes later when they reached the Headmistress's office. Professor Sprout put the stool and hat off to one side, the hat continued a low level mumbling though nobody was paying it any attention.

Draco looked around the room; it was quite different than when he was here at the end of last year. Bagpipes in one corner, a tin of biscuits with a tartan pattern on the desk, various other items strewn about that made it clear a Scotswoman occupied the office.

The paintings of various previous Headmasters adorned the walls. Dumbledore's had been moved, no longer behind the Headmasters chair but on the wall with the others. Draco was relieved when he saw that painting and was pleased that Dumbledore was in residence, though apparently taking a nap. His half-moon spectacles had slipped slightly down his long nose while he snored softly.

"Here, sit, eat, this will be worked out soon enough one way or another." Professor Sprout said. She had cleared a small table and nice meal was laid out for him, with a jug of Pumpkin Juice on the side along with a goblet. She took her own tray and sat at the Headmasters desk. Draco hadn't noticed the food arrive.

Draco couldn't eat much; he was terrified and didn't know what had happened. If they thought he had done something to the hat, maybe to get attention, would they throw him out of the school? He didn't really have a backup plan if he couldn't be at school. He would figure something out, but that would take time. He kept glancing at the door, at Dumbledore's portrait at Professor Sprout. He didn't bother to ask any questions, he knew as much about what happened as she did, which meant, not much. He would just have to wait. He drank the Pumpkin Juice because his throat was dry but anything he ate just seemed to sit in his stomach like a piece of lead.

It was almost an hour before he heard sounds on the spiral staircase and by that time he was nearly sick with worry. Professor Sprout stood up and with a wave of her wand the two trays vanished; a fresh pitcher of Pumpkin Juice and 3 cups appeared though.

The Headmistress followed by Professor Slughorn entered the room and Draco stood up quickly. He didn't know what to do with his hands so he clasped them behind his back and stood like he did when his father was going to punish him for one thing or another, back straight, eye's forward. McGonagall moved behind her desk and sat down. "Everybody have a seat."

"Now, has anybody thought of anything else that may shed light on what happened in the Great Hall?"

"Is it possible the hat is malfunctioning? It was damaged when Voldemort set it on fire at the end of last term." Suggested Professor Slughorn

"I am **NOT **damaged!" the hat exclaimed, "I am upset."

"But why are you upset?" Asked the Headmistress, "You're not being very clear about what the issue is."

"I'm upset because he has done something, something that should not be done. I am never wrong, but somehow I am. I need to see, I need to know…" the hat had returned to mumbling again.

"Mr. Malfoy, the hat insists you did something, did you cast a spell upon it or something? What have you done?"

"I didn't do _anything_, I don't know why it's saying this, I was just walking by, I think it brushed against me but that's it. I swear!" Draco insisted.

"If I may Minerva?" A voice asked from off one of the walls. Everybody turned to look at Dumbledore's portrait.

"Of course Albus, perhaps you can shed some light on this. Because frankly, I'm at a loss." The Headmistress replied.

"Remember what I told you when Draco requested permission to return to the school to finish his 7th year? What I said to convince you to give him this chance?"

"Yes, you said the boy had changed, that he regretted his past actions and wished to make amends. While I didn't think it wise and his actions during his 6th year did not encourage me, I have been guided by your advice in the past and it is rarely wrong. The fact that he was going to spare your life went a long way toward making it easier to allow him to return."

"Well, consider what might have happened if he truly did change and changed so much that he is, quite literally, not the young man he used to be. How might this affect the hat?"

The Headmistress's eyes widened as she understood the import of what the painting was saying. "Is that even possible Albus, after all it has never happened in the history of Hogwarts."

"That's true, however, the hat has made it clear, in order to 'know' he needs to 'see' and the only way he can do that is to be placed on Draco's head."

All eyes turned to Draco again. "You mean, to be sorted again?"

"Yes Draco, you would potentially be sorted into a different house, if you have truly changed, that is. The Sorting Hat would know, it cannot be confunded or enchanted to force it to put you into the wrong house, it would be quite sure as to where you actually belong." Dumbledore said. "You must be sure this is something that you are willing to do though. If you change house, it may cause more disruption in your year than you already anticipated."

Draco was stunned, to not be Slytherin, but he had always been Slytherin, his family had always been Slytherin. If he didn't belong there, he didn't know where he would belong. Merlin! What if it put him in Gryffindor? He might not survive the year; they all hated him so much.

On the other hand, what did he have in Slytherin anymore, nobody would trust him there either, he might as well be a blood traitor, he supposed he was a blood traitor really. And frankly, he just didn't have the same motivation that made him a good fit for Slytherin, he would hate being there. Surrounded by people who thought they knew everything about everything and that they were better than everybody else. He hated it in himself, in his family, what if he backslid, started acting like he used to, like a '_Malfoy'_. He couldn't do that either.

He placed his hands on his legs, took a deep breath and stood up. "I would like to know where I belong. Let me try the hat."

"Very well, very well, Pomona, would you bring the stool and hat to the center of the room please?" McGonagall asked.

Once the stool and hat were in place, Professor Sprout lifted the hat up and Draco sat down. The hat was placed on his head and he could 'hear' the hat's muttering clearly now.

"A thousand years I have never been wrong Mr. Malfoy, and now you do this, I've never had such a challenge in my history, makes we wonder. Maybe Albus is right; maybe I am used to soon.

Now where to put you...

Slytherin is not an option. While you still have ambition that ambition is for personal growth, not personal gain.

But in Gryffindor, well, despite what you might think of yourself you are brave. It takes bravery to refuse to do what Voldemort tried to make you do, it takes bravery to stand in his presence but not bow to his wishes. You tried to protect others even when it could have meant your death. But, you do not seek glory, and Gryffindor tends to force glory on its members.

Ravenclaw values intelligence above all else and you certainly meet that requirement. It would allow you the opportunity to learn and grow, to find the path that works best for you. Perhaps even to change the world. But your instincts are to lead with emotions instead of logic, can you overcome instincts I wonder?

Hufflepuff would give you peace, the peace you seek and even crave. You feel a need to make amends and Hufflepuff is the home for those who seek to make the world better through good works. Hufflepuffs don't seek glory but to help without reward. However, their good works tend to be on a limited scale and you feel you have a world to repay. Are you willing to limit your scope and save the world one person at a time?"

Now Draco spoke, "I wish to be something better than I was, I wish to be who I should have been had I been allowed to be."

"Well then, in that case." The hat appeared to tear at the seam and shouted.

**"MUST BE…."**

**Sorry for the cliffhanger everybody….ok, no I'm not :) **

**Sorry it was a couple days before I updated for the 6 of you who are reading this right now, I reached the castle and figured out, I don't know who all is coming back and what teachers are there, best I figure that out before we go into the feast I think.**

**I want to give credit where credit is due. A lot of the twists and turns in this story are thanks to collaboration and input from my husband, affectionately known as The Peanut Gallery.**

**Please read, and if you enjoy Vote and comment. I would really appreciate it.**

**9/16: Updated to improve flow.**


	7. House of Change

Chapter 6

**House of Change**

**"…..**_**RAVENCLAW!"**_

Draco was stunned to say the least, as was everybody else in the room with him. He continued to sit, as though petrified, unmoving, not even breathing as what the hat had just said tried to sink into his befuddled mind.

After a full 30 seconds the hat said, "You can take me off now, I'm done."

As if a Wizard Cracker had gone off in the room, everybody started. The breath rushed out of Draco's lungs and others in the room let out gasps of their own.

Professor Sprout removed the hat from Draco's head and he quickly stood up, distancing himself from the bearer of, disturbing news, at the least.

"What does that mean?" Draco asked very very quietly, "Does it mean….mean…what does it mean?"

The smiling portrait with the twinkling eyes spoke up. "I think, my dear boy, that it means that you have a new house. That based on what the hat saw, you now fit Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin."

"But I've always been in Slytherin, my _family_ has always been in Slytherin?"

"As I am sure you are aware Draco, family pre-disposition does not always determine where somebody is best suited. You are a bright, intelligent young man, why wouldn't you suit Ravenclaw? You have been, after all, first in your class. Among the male half of the population at any rate."

Draco was having a hard time processing the fact that the hat had truly seen something that caused it to change the house he belonged to. He thought it was just confused by his changed feelings, not that he was actually different.

"Ravenclaw house will never accept me!" Draco stated "Merlin! No house will accept me, not even Slytherin would want me around. I'm a traitor on all sides."

"Language Mr. Malfoy!" Professor McGonagall said.

Professor Sprout spoke up, "Draco, you told the hat that you wanted to be where you should have been, did you really think that you should have been in Slytherin? That if given the choice you would have turned out the same way? Every gardener knows that you reap what you sow, could it be that the garden you grew in was not the best soil for you?"

"I don't know, I suppose so and I know I don't want to be in ... that garden ... anymore, but it can't be that easy to just up and move to another. A plant can't just pick itself up and move where it wants, and even if it was moved to different soil, the soil it started in would always have an impact on it. The dirt of it will cling to the roots. It would still be stunted, malformed." Draco was getting worked up, his voice taking on a note of panic.

"Perhaps Mr. Malfoy but..."

"Stop calling me that!" Draco yelled, interrupting the Headmistress.

"Pardon me?!" She replied.

Draco blanched, "I'm sorry Prof…I mean, Headmistress. I didn't mean to yell at you like that." He looked bleakly around and locating a nearby chair, sank into it. "What am I going to do?"

The Headmistress spoke quickly. "Pomona, would you be so kind as to summon Professor Flitwick, I think Draco needs to visit with his new Head of House."

The Assistant Headmistress exited the room and closed the door behind her.

"Draco?" Draco looked up at the Headmistress, pulling his eyes from the rug he was letting himself get lost in. "Why don't you want me calling you by your proper name?"

"It's nothing Headmistress, I was just freaking out." Draco said, not quite meeting her eye.

"I'm afraid I must insist."

"Tell her Draco." Dumbledore said quietly.

Draco hesitated again for a few seconds, and once again looking at the patterned rug, explained his reasons.

"Because the name is a curse, everything evil and vile is attached to it. Nothing good ever came from the name Malfoy." His tone took on a prideful note "I reveled in being a Malfoy, so proud and arrogant about it. I am a _Pureblood_, a _Malfoy_, my mother is a Black, another despised and ancient name. I don't want to be defined by my name; I want to be defined by me, not who I was born. But that was the soil I was grown in wasn't it? Just how much of it can I shake off my roots, how much has it already created a malformed me?"

He looked up and met Professor McGonagall's eyes, "Can't I just be me?"

"Of course you can Draco, but the teachers can't call you by your first name in class. That would show disrespect not just for you, but for all your classmates. It would impact the balance we must maintain between student and teacher if we called you by your first name. Have you by chance considered choosing a different name for yourself, or even change your name legally?"

"Yes, I have no relatives I respect enough to use their name and I don't want to just make one up. I thought, eventually, I would find a name that suits me, that I could feel proud to have but, no, nothing yet." Draco said.

"That being the case, while we will try to respect your feelings in this matter, there will be times the Professors will have to use your surname. Please try to avoid snapping at them when they do, they are just following the precepts set by the school. I know that hearing the name in reference to yourself may cause you some distress, but that will not be how it is intended, by any of the teachers. I trust that will be acceptable?"

"Yes Ma'am." Draco answered.

"Draco, I can't make the students do the same. If you want to be known by other than your past and ascendants, you will need to prove yourself to them. You understand that don't you?"

"Yes Ma'am, I'm prepared for that." Draco sounded surer than he felt on that score. He thought the students would fall into three categories. Those who didn't care, those who cared but would not be direct about it and those who would seek to punish him for wrongs done to them and their families. He hoped if he just kept his head down and his nose clean it would eventually blow over. But those who opted for the more direct approach, well, like he told Neville, while he was not looking to make trouble, he was not going to let himself be beat up either.

"Good, ah, here is Professor Flitwick." The Headmistress changed the subject when Professor Flitwick knocked on the door. You could tell it was him because the knocking came from low on the door.

"Please come in Professor."

"You wished to see me Headmistress?" The tiny professor asked. The diminutive professor may not have looked like much and he was one of the more easy going professors in the school, but he was a master of charm work. What he had done last year in defending the school had gone a long way to giving Harry Potter the time he needed to defeat Voldemort. Draco had considerable respect for him.

"Filius, there has been something of a surprise shakeup involving Draco Malfoy. It seems that his personality no longer suits Slytherin House, according to the Sorting Hat, he is now more inclined toward Ravenclaw. Therefore he will be joining your house for his final year with us. I would like you to see to it that quarters are arranged for him. His current class schedule should still be suitable so that is already taken care of if you could pass that along to him Horrace?"

"I'm sorry…what?" Professor Flitwick stuck his fingers in his ears and wiggled them. "I thought you just said that Mr. Malfoy will be joining my house, but I must have misunderstood."

"You heard me quite correctly. When the Sorting Hat came into contact with Mr. Malfoy, it determined that he no longer belonged in Slytherin. Considering how intelligent he is, I'm not surprised he belongs in your house. When you consider, if you remove the traits that make him…I mean, made him, a rather fine Slytherin, the brains that remain are among the finest in the school." She shot a small smile at Draco who smiled back, grateful for her praise.

His father had not prized intelligence, though he could not stand the fact that a '_Mudblood'_ did better in school than Draco did. When it came right to it, the only benefit to being smart was it allowed you to gain more power. Draco thought that was more greed and a willingness to destroy others to get what you wanted than intelligence.

If he could get past the understandable mistrust, he thought he would enjoy Ravenclaw a lot. He enjoyed learning and he thought he would also enjoy having conversations with others that didn't include the low brow stuff he used to talk about with Crabb and Goyle.

The Professors had continued to talk while Draco sat and thought about where this change might take him. He felt a small bit of hope that things might get better. Those in Ravenclaw tended to be more philosophical about things, to weight matters before coming to judgment. If he was careful, he might actually do ok there.

"When you are finished with Draco, please come back up here Filius, we will be having a quick staff meeting before the end of the evening." McGonagall was saying when Draco tuned back in.

"Certainly Minerva, come along Mr. Malfoy, if you would send along the class schedule Horrace that would be great." The small man headed for the door, Draco following behind him.

"Draco?" Dumbledore's voiced sounded behind him, and he paused, half turning to look at the mobile portrait.

"Do make a point of visiting me if you would, I think I would like to hear about your summer and how you are getting along, there is much else we could talk about I'm sure." Dumbledore smiled "Perhaps the Headmistress could set up regular meetings for us."

"Yes Sir, I would like that."

Professor Flitwick and Draco arrived at his office only a few minutes later. The office was sized for its occupant, a smaller desk and tables in the room. Two standard sized chairs and two smaller ones filled the little space available but they appeared to be very comfortable.

The Professor moved behind his desk and sat down. "Please sit." He gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

"Give me a moment" Flitwick said, "I wish to make the arrangements for your room first and call in the Ravenclaw prefects. Could I have a house-elf attend me please?"

There was a loud _crack_ and a house-elf appeared, "How may I help you Sir" it asked with a bow. It was a he and his tea towel bore the Hogwarts colors, clean and pressed, rather like a uniform.

"Yes, thank you for your prompt response, I need you and some of the others to prepare a room for Mr. Malfoy in the Ravenclaw tower. If you could make the room on the 4th floor 2nd door ready in the same way as those done for the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff returning students, with Ravenclaw colors of course, I would appreciate it." Flitwick said.

"Of course, Dinkle shall attend to it immediately." With another _crack_ the elf was gone.

Flitwick then produced his wand and with a little swish an indistinguishable ghostly white object flew out of the end of his wand and bounded out of the room. Draco could swear it was some sort of fuzzy animal but he couldn't make it out. His own patronus was merely vapor and had no set form that he could tell.

"As I am sure you are aware Mr. Malfoy, there will be some obstacles you will need to overcome this year." Flitwick began and Draco nodded.

"Good, well, not good of course, but good that you understand that, it will make it easier to deal with. I expect you to come to me if anything occurs that is excessive. Everybody deserves a chance to fix past mistakes and I won't tolerate anybody in my house abusing another member. Normally I would not expect anything extreme, Ravenclaw students are known for their deep thinking and tendency not to rush to judgment without a thorough knowledge of all the facts. However, emotions are going to be involved and even the most thoughtful of us can be rash. Be patient with them, keep yourself out of trouble and they will come around."

The little professor leaned forward, his hands clasped on the table. "I am very serious, I know you will think you need to handle everything yourself, and telling the 'adults' is not the way you would prefer to go, but allowing a situation to fester can only make things worse. Ravenclaw has a history of using arbitration to settle major disagreements. Make use of this method if you are unable to work out a situation on your own in an amicable fashion, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir, it sounds like a good way to resolve disputes that could lead to future cooperation." Draco said, and he believed it. If arbitration had been used with Voldemort in the past, he wondered if the world might have been different. But when he really thought about it, he doubted it. Arbitration would only work between reasonable people and Voldemort had been power mad, not reasonable.

At that moment two people entered the room. Draco recognized Padma Patil and Anthony Goldstein both still in their school robes with their Prefect badges visible. Anthony spoke for them both, "You wished to see us Professor?"

"Yes Mr. Goldstein, Miss Patil. We have a new member of Ravenclaw. He comes to us in an unusual way but I trust you will make sure he is accepted as graciously as possible by the students. When I have finished meeting with him I will need you to show Mr. Malfoy the way to the Ravenclaw common room and help him settle in. He is going to be in the 2nd room on the 4th floor, it is being prepared for him now."

Both students started at the name and really looked at Draco. Padma was the first to speak "Malfoy! In Ravenclaw, that's impossible, he's in Slytherin house."

"Not anymore, it turns that Slytherin house is no longer a good fit for him and he has been re-sorted into Ravenclaw." The Professor said.

"How is that possible sir? I have never heard of anybody ever being re-sorted before." Said Anthony

"You are not incorrect Mr. Goldstein, however, this evening, when the hat came into contact with Mr. Malfoy it sensed that his standing had changed. I am sure you recall the incident in the Great Hall. While it has never happened before, part of that may be because the hat has never been in a position to know."

"He must have bewitched it somehow then, because this is just impossible!" said Padma.

"No Miss Patil, it isn't. If you would calm yourself and consider the situation with a clear mind you would remember that the hat cannot be fooled, tricked or bewitched; it is proof from magical interference in order to prevent just what you are describing from happening. I understand that it is hard to believe, but it is true." The Professor looked at Draco, "Whatever qualities Mr. Malfoy had that made him a good fit for Slytherin has changed. His predominate personality is now most closely aligned to Ravenclaw's beliefs." Professor Flitwick leaned forward, and Draco could almost see his Goblin heritage in his eyes.

"I wish to make this very clear, and I expect you, as the Prefects you ensure compliance. We are Ravenclaw! Our reputation is above reproach and I intend that it stay that way. He, like every human, deserves a second chance, and what the hat discovered earns him that. I expect the use of reasoned discourse and if needed, mediation to be how disputes are settled. Not wand work, do I make myself clear?"

Anthony and Padma regarded Draco for what seemed like a long time before sharing a look with each other. "We understand Professor, however, it will be very difficult to convince the rest of the school that this transfer is legitimate rather than..." Anthony started.

"It won't be anybody's job to convince the school of anything." Draco interjected.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Padma said, glaring at Draco.

"Just that, listen, I made my own mess, I will have to clean it up myself. Some people will think that I'm acting, trying to get over on everybody. I understand that, and I accept it. But I won't ask anybody to try to convince anybody for me." Draco said. "What it comes down to is that I am the only one who can change people's minds about me. I can only do that by being exactly who I want to be."

Padma and Anthony shared a look with Professor Flitwick, grinning; Anthony said "You really don't understand us do you? We'll watch you, and we'll observe you but you are Ravenclaw now and Ravenclaw's convince people with logic."

"You have, apparently, changed a lot in just a few months. How can we be sure it's going to stick?" Padma asked.

"You can't, hell, I can't. Only time will tell. If I start backsliding, I expect everybody will let me know pretty quick."

"Oh yea, we'll let you know, no worries on that mate." Anthony said with a grin that was just a little too devilish.

At that moment Professor Slughorn knocked on the open door. "Pardon me Professor, I have Mr. Malfoy's schedule here."

"Thank you Horace. Miss Patil, Mr. Goldstein, will you wait outside for a moment, you can escort Mr. Malfoy after I have gone over his schedule with him."

After handing the schedule to Professor Flitwick, Slughorn, Padma and Anthony left the room, closing the door behind them. Draco focused his attention back on the Charms Professor who was giving the schedule a quick look.

"I see you are continuing with the courses you had in your 6th year, Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Transfiguration. I had a number of students return this year so I won't need any assistance with my 1st year Charms classes but Slughorn can use you I believe, so we will keep your schedule as is." The Professor slid the sheet across the desk to Draco, he gave it a quick look and found it to be much like his 6th year schedule.

"Professor, I was wondering, could I get into the Muggle Studies class as well this year? My travels over the summer showed me that they are different than I'd been indoctrinated to believe. I think they are worth learning more about." Draco asked, looking up from his schedule.

"I'm not sure, I assume you haven't taken any other years in Muggle Studies?" Flitwick inquired.

"No."

"You wouldn't be able to go for your Newt in it then."

"That's fine, maybe I could just attend without an expectation of a grade?"

"Are you sure you have time to add another class? You already have six plus your duties with Professor Slughorn."

Draco looked down at his schedule again. "My Wednesdays and Thursdays seem fairly light, maybe if there is something on one of those days I can attend and if it becomes too much I can always stop going. But I would like to at least try."

The Professor thought for a moment before advising, "Very well, I will speak with Professor Drake, he is the new Muggle Studies teacher, and I will let you know tomorrow morning at breakfast if he agrees."

This must be the unknown Professor Draco has seen at the Head Table, he nodded, "Thank you Professor, I appreciate it."

"I'm sure you remember all the standard school rules, 7th year curfew is at 11pm except on Astronomy nights and then you need to move directly between your house and the Astronomy tower." The Professor turned very serious eyes on Draco. "Be sure and keep your nose clean this year Mr. Malfoy, I will not be happy if Ravenclaw's reputation should suffer. On the other hand, remember that intelligence is the most power weapon out there, use your brains instead of your brawn or cunning and you will find that most paths become much smoother."

"Yes Sir, I will try to remember that."

"Good, now, if that is all, I have a meeting to attend, I'm sure your room is ready by now and your possessions moved. Miss Patil and Mr. Goldstein will show you the way."

Draco stood up, "Thank you Professor, I won't let you down." So saying, he turned and moved into the hallway.

"Malfoy, follow us." Anthony said and started to turn away.

"Please call me Draco, I'm not a big fan of the name Malfoy right now." Draco said as he started to follow them.

Padma made a slight sound of disbelief and Draco could just hear her say "You and everybody else." But otherwise remained silent.

And in that silence, the three students followed a path Draco had not gone before. Each house tended to keep the location of their entrance, if not a secret, at least not broadcast. While Draco knew generally where it was, he had never been there before. At the top of a tight spiral staircase they came to a door with no handle and no painting, but instead a beautifully crafted bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle hung on the wooden door.

Anthony stopped and put his hand on Padma's arm. "Let's see how he does."

Draco looked between the two of them, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Knock of course." Padma said a small smile on her mouth and a slightly devilish light in her eyes.

Draco moved up to the door, reached out and grasped the knocker. Taking a deep breath, he banged the knocker to the door.

When the eagles' beak opened Draco took a step back, letting the knocker go as he did. A voice filled the area, musical and feminine.

"I run all day and never walk, I tell you something but I do not talk; what am I?"

"Answer the riddle and the door opens for you." Anthony said, smiling like he didn't expect Draco to be able to get the answer.

"It's a clock." Draco replied, looking at the two of them. He saw their eyes widen a fraction at how quickly he got the answer. The knocker replied "Well reasoned" as the door opened.

"How often does the riddle change?" Draco asked, curious, as he moved through the door. Oddly enough as he walked into the room he was feeling more confident now than he had since he boarded the train. A smile played on his lips. Maybe the hat wasn't as crazy as he thought.

**Wow, this chapter was hard, so many things I had to figure out. I truly didn't know what house I was going to put him in when I ended the last chapter. So once I knew I had to know what 7th years had returned to complete their schooling, what Draco's schedule was going to be and find a suitable riddle.**

**I hope everybody enjoyed it, and continue to enjoy it. I hope to have chapter 7 up tomorrow.**

**Remember, vote, if you like it and comment if you have something to say.**

**9/16: Updated to improve flow and storyline.**


	8. Past Tense

Chapter 7

**Past Tense**

Draco woke slowly, his head hurting. When he opened his eyes he could see the ceiling above him and after a moment remembered where he was.

_"Again?!" _ He swore silently to himself, he was getting really sick of waking up here. Three times in the last two months he had had to stay here overnight. Double that just in visits as well.

He had known he was going to have trouble, but he thought it would start to taper off after a while, instead they were trying to kill him, and it was really starting to get bloody annoying.

The first time had been the very first day, during dinner. The day had been fairly uneventful, yes, people recognized him but while he received a lot of glares and whispered threats, nothing had happened. For the most part the others in his house just ignored him, trying to pretend he didn't exist.

Luna of course was different, when wasn't she. When she saw him in the common room that morning, she skipped up to him, tilted her head to one side and said. "Well, look who's come home." Then she took his hand and though he tried to remove it from her, used it to pull him with her out of the room and down to the great hall. When he sat down next to her he knew heads were turning at every table, focused on him.

He used to like attention, that day he felt like a beetle pinned to a board, being examined as though he were some strange creature. He knew he was being watched because nobody trusted him, because he was a traitor, on all sides.

Even with Luna sitting beside him, nobody else at the table came close, a good 3 feet between them and everybody else. That is until Luna's two closest friends joined them. Those three girls, would be the best thing that ever happened to him. They made being at Hogwarts bearable when everything else was unbearable.

He smiled slightly now, at the memories of his first morning, Luna was mental but she was also very loyal. She seemed to believe in him when nobody else would. He had to wonder sometimes if that was because she only believed in the unbelievable.

Anyway, at the end of the day he was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, waiting for dinner to be served. There was room for at least three people between him and the next person at the table and it was the same on the other side. Then Luna sat down next to him, just as she had done that morning, her two friends, who he had not met yet, hesitated and then sat down across from them. A slightly disgruntled look covered their faces.

Her friends, obviously didn't feel the same way about him as Luna did, but still, that sat by him, so that meant something.

Astoria Greengrass, was a 6th year with long thick brown hair and brown eyes. She had known Luna since her first year, something about Luna drew her in and they had been friends ever since. Astoria had once told him it was because Luna had never been wrong about somebody and so they had no reason not to trust her that they even gave Draco a chance. Then she added that if Draco ever hurt Luna, she would hex him so hard, nobody would find anything. He believed she would too; the stately Witch had a will of iron and a strong protective streak.

Helen Dawlish, was a small girl with short red hair and blue eyes. She was Astoria's best friend; they had known each other since before school as they were near neighbors. While Helen was not a pure-blood, her father's side of the family was very well respected and her mother was an accomplished healer. She was the niece of their DADA teacher, and a seriously smart Witch. Like Hermione, she spent most of her time studying and was the smartest girl in her 6th year class. However, following her own rules, she would take one day a week off to do nothing. She called it "deflating", something Hermione Granger would never do.

"Hey Luna, how was your day?" Draco asked.

"It was ok, the new teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts was interesting don't you think?"

"I guess, he should be a good teacher being a former Auror." Draco agreed. Though he had to wonder about Professor Dawlish, he had seemed to be very dedicated to the Ministry and that had often led him to back the wrong horse as the saying went. He wondered how much those bad bets had to do with his new post at the school.

Dinner appeared on the table in front of them and they started ladling food onto their plates.

They talked more about their day and how they had already received loads of homework from all of their classes. It seemed like this year was going to be just as heavy as his 6th year was. Personally, he thought it would be a vacation compared to what he had been doing last year and he was looking forward to it.

About half way through dinner Draco started to feel odd. His arms felt tired and heavy and his speech became slurred. He tried to clear his throat but found it difficult to breath. He knew then that he had either been poisoned (and he couldn't see how that was possible), or somebody had attacked him. The girls noticed his skin grow clammy and his body began to shake. Astoria started to ask him if he was feeling ok when his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell backward off the bench.

The girls all jumped up, Astoria and Helen let out screams. Luna dropped down next to Draco with her wand out. She waved her wand over Draco's body, casting a spell that would place him in a kind of temporary stasis. Other students were beginning to notice there was a problem even as Professor's Flitwick, Slughorn and McGonagall hurried down from the dais.

Draco woke up in the hospital wing the next morning. Apparently he had been hit by a combination of jinxes that had caused his system to seize, nearly killing him. Luna's quick thinking had saved his life.

He spent 2 days in the hospital, missing his first day working with the 1st year Potions students, and Transfiguration. Even Harry Potter had not ended up confined to the Hospital Wing on his first day.

He returned to school and went on with his life, choosing to proceed as if nothing had happened. Time passed and other than a couple of minor jinxes that annoyed but didn't hurt him nothing else happened for a month.

He was given permission to attend the Muggle Studies class and he found it surprisingly interesting. The Professor was a squib named Marcus Drake. He had recently married the Divination teacher Professor Trelawney and used to be a much respected magician in the Muggle world. Draco thought that must be why he seemed familiar since he advised them he had been on many of London's billboards advertising his shows. He had a unique insight into the Muggle world from the standpoint of magic and his classes were filled with examples of Muggle ways to mimic magic to such a degree that you often couldn't tell the difference.

Luna continued to eat with him, and they partnered together in many of his classes. Some started to make fun of him being stuck with Loony Luna, but he didn't mind, she was just plain nice, and he hadn't had much of that in his life. She was even in Muggle Studies with him.

Eventually though he ended up in the Hospital Wing again when, a number of Slytherin students had caught him on the grounds on a Friday evening on his way to his Astronomy class. They were brutal, and because it was so dark he never knew who actually attacked him. The class found him lying at the base of the tower two hours later, unconscious and nearly frozen. His wand lay on the ground beside him. The taste of Skelligrow potion stayed with him for a week after he was released.

After that, despite his saying he would be fine, Luna, Astoria and Helen almost never left him alone. After a time, even Astoria started to lighten up around him. He grew to really enjoy their company. Luna was always able to cheer him up just by being herself, even when it seemed he was in the pit of despair. Helen was always willing to help him catch up on his classes so he was still doing very well, despite the setbacks and Astoria turned out to be a surprisingly staunch defender. He found he liked them, a lot.

Some made fun of his needing to be protected by girls, others joked about his _Harem_, but the four of them knew the truth and eventually so did the rest of Ravenclaw. The common room had become a refuge; he had many nights of pleasurable conversation that focused on the future and for once, that future included hope. In that room the Ravenclaw house solved the Wizarding world's problems and worked on ways to make the world as a whole much better.

It was October 31st, Halloween and almost everybody had gone to Hogsmede to enjoy the day off, and as the four friends moved through the small Wizard town Draco was surprised that he didn't get attacked once. This was a perfect opportunity to attack him and not be caught. It took him a little while to realize that he was being tailed, and by no less than the Golden Trio. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger seemed to be headed everywhere he, Luna, Astoria and Helen were. They weren't much of a trio anymore though as Ginny was with them, hand in hand with Harry.

When it was time to return to the school for the Halloween Feast, Draco pulled up and waited for Harry and the others to catch up.

"Hello, fancy meeting you all here." He said with a slight smile.

He and Harry had talked a few more times since the year started. Usually it was in the hospital wing, as Harry visited him every time he went there. Harry said it was because he remembered how lonely it can get when you're stuck there and Madam Pomfrey would often let him stay later than the others. Harry said it was because she had a soft spot for him and liked seeing him there when NOT confined to one of her hospital beds.

Now Harry smiled back, "Yah, well, you seemed to be headed to interesting places, can't blame us for thinking it was worth a look. Sides, you've been accident prone lately, we were just keeping an eye on Luna, I mean, you might trip over her or something."

"Oh, ha ha." Draco said.

Astoria stepped between Draco and Harry. "Hey!, It's not Draco's fault! He hasn't done anything to deserve the way he's been treated and you being a git isn't helping matters any." She practically growled.

Draco and Harry stared at Astoria.

Draco wasn't completely surprised at her vehement defense of him but he hadn't expected it being directed against Harry. Everybody loved Harry, I mean, he was a hero, who yells at a hero?

Harry however, was surprised, mainly at being called a git by somebody other than Ginny.

"It's ok Astoria; Harry was just making a bad joke. It's the kind he's best at." Ginny said, trying to calm the situation quickly. She had seen what the others hadn't. While Astoria had been the one to step forward, all three young women had taken exception to what Harry had said, even Luna looked ready to almost raise her voice.

"It's true," Harry said "it was a bad joke, nothing more."

This calmed the three girls, but then Draco said.

"No, Harry was making a good point. While nothing has really happened in the last few weeks it doesn't mean that it won't. The Slytherin's especially, hate my guts right now."

He looked at the Gryffindor students before him, "And some from Gryffindor aren't far behind, but at least I see them coming, they tend to be more up front about it, also, they don't try to do serious damage, more like…teaching a lesson. But whoever those Slytherin attackers are, they are going for a more permanent solution to their anger."

Despite how much they might protest, Draco and Harry's lot knew the facts. It was true that being around Draco right now could be hazardous, at least until things calmed down. They had to eventually.

Astoria turned to him and looked him in the eyes; he noticed again that her eyes were like chocolate, dark chocolate, and he lost his train of thought. "No Draco, you are a Ravenclaw and we will stand together. Thoughtful consideration will give us the answers we need to resolve this, peacefully if we can, not so peacefully if need be."

Draco put one hand on Astoria's shoulder and another on Luna's and looked at Helen, including her in the link. "Thank you, but I can't let you get hurt because of me…."

That was the last thing he remembered from what he assumed was last night, except for the pain. And now, he was in the Hospital Wing, again. He really hated it here, he wondered if Harry had been stuck in here as many times in one year. Draco chuckled, probably, Harry had spent a lot of time here, Draco had seen to some of that himself.

"What have you got to laugh about, they bloody tried to kill you again?" Ron's voice caused him to sit up in bed too quickly, and he dropped back down again, his head spinning.

After a moment he looked around and was surprised to see Luna, Astoria and Helen sitting around his bed. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione stood at the end of the bed.

"How long have I been out?" He asked, looking at Harry.

Luna spoke first, "Only a few hours, you talk in your sleep did you know that, I think it was in another language, you may have been communicating with the Nargles in the room." She swished her hands around her and Draco's head as though shooing something away.

Everybody looked at Luna fondly. Except Ron, he just looked confused.

"What happened?" He asked.

"It was the Cruciatus Curse." Hermione said. "We didn't hear who cast it so it must have been done silently, but it was definitely the Cruciatus. Harry acted first, habit I guess, he threw up a Protego and the rest of us just followed along. Once it was up on all sides, the spell was interrupted and you stopped screaming."

Draco nodded.

"We hoped never to see that spell used again." Harry continued the story. "Once the spell was interrupted we sent our Patronus' to hunt down the casters. It was three Slytherin 6th years; they were probably the same ones that got you before. Luna sent her Patronus for the Headmistress and they have already been taken by the Ministry. Professor McGonagall said their own wands betrayed them, even though they tried to deny they had anything to do with it. Tried to claim we attacked them. Turns out they were all related to Deatheaters who had either been killed or captured last year. I'm not sure why they picked you and not me, you would think I would be the first one they would want to kill."

"Because, despite everything, you're not a Blood Traitor. Nobody else was hurt?" He asked, looking around at everybody, trying to see if anybody else was wounded in any way.

"No, we're all fine." Astoria said, resting her hand on his where it lay on the bed. "That was the most horrible thing I have ever seen, if Harry and them hadn't been there I don't know what would have happened."

Draco felt a tingle start in his hand and work its way up his arm.

Helen nodded and took Draco's other hand, Luna just said "You get used to it." And continued to waive her hands around Draco's head.

"Ok, you lot have all been here quite long enough, Mr. Malfoy needs his rest and he's not going to get it with you hanging about. Off you go now, you can come back in the morning when he is released." Madam Pomfrey came bustling into the room, shooing them all out before her. The last to leave were Luna, Astoria and Helen, throwing promises behind them that they would return in the morning.

"Now you lay back and rest, your body needs time to recover." Madam Pomfrey said.

Draco did exactly what he was told, he had learned from experience not to argue.

Now that the most troublesome people at the school were apparently gone, maybe the rest of the year would go more smoothly.

As he drifted off to sleep, the last thing that went through his mind was the image of a pair of deep brown eyes.

**Hope you guys liked this chapter, I know I went from 1 day in 6 chapters to 2 months in 1. Thought I would switch it up a bit. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment and don't forget to vote.**


	9. Let the games begin!

**This chapter is dedicated to my children, see if you recognize yourselves in this chapter. My children are my light, they are wacky wonderful people and I love them very much. Here's to you!**

Chapter 8

**Let the games begin!**

The next morning Draco was up and almost ready to go before his friends arrived. Today was the first Quidditch match of the season and Ravenclaw was playing against Hufflepuff. Draco didn't intend to miss it. They had moved up the matches a couple weeks this year in order to give everybody more study time at the end of year for finals.

He'd been going to watch the Ravenclaw practices on a regular basis and while at first he had been looked at with suspicion, they soon became accustomed to him being around. After the first two attacks, the team had actually become pretty welcoming. They even let him join them as an opposing Chaser, making their practices a little better.

He was often accompanied by Luna, who was a surprisingly avid watcher considering her usual attention span. Helen was typically in the library during the practices since, as she had once put it; "It's just not my thing, I don't find it to be a logical or efficient use of my time." Astoria however, was Ravenclaw's keeper. Her defense of Draco was not the only thing she put her protective instincts to work on. If she wasn't defending Draco, or the goals she was helping the younger students acclimate to being away from home so much.

Draco remembered Astoria's older sister Daphne as being similar, she had been in Draco's year and was in Slytherin as well, but they hadn't interacted much. She had been in Pansy's little group, but when Pansy's treatment of those younger than her started to get bad, they had stopped hanging out. He wondered what happened to her.

The door to the infirmary opened as he was folding up the last of his nightclothes. He looked over his shoulder and smiled at the three women who came into the room and an even bigger smile broke out on his face at what he saw. Luna was wearing a large bronze eagle balanced on her head, it rose about 3 feet above her and she had to duck and hold the hat in order to get through the door.

"Luna!, what in Merlin's name are you wearing?" Draco asked and burst out laughing.

"Do you like it, watch what it can do." When Luna touched a spot on the brim of the hat the eagle spread its wings out to a span of about 6 feet, stretched out its neck and let out an ear piercing screech. Everybody pressed their hands to ears and Madam Pomfrey came running out of her office.

"What is that racket? Stop that this instant!" She yelled, hands also pressed to her ears.

Luna calmly reached up and shut the hat off. It was an amazing piece of magic.

"Geez Luna, save it for the field, that's way too loud for inside." Astoria said, lowering her hands.

"That was _wicked_ Luna!" Draco said, still smiling.

"Yea, real wicked." Helen said, wiggling a finger in her ear, "I may be deaf now."

"Mr. Malfoy, you are free to go, please try to avoid coming back, I would prefer not to see you again if you don't mind." Madam Pomfrey said, and started to herd them out of the room. "Out now, of you go, along with that silly hat."

The four friends left the room, still chuckling and talking about Luna's entertaining ensemble.

Draco found himself growing quiet as he took in Astoria who was also dressed differently, wearing the basics of her Quidditch uniform. The heavier blue robes with bronze trim hugged her figure, long slits on all sides made it easy to sit a broom and adjust as needed but it also showed her legs. The thick hide pants she wore under the robes were tight to her thighs and the high top boots gave an extra inch to her 5'6" frame.

When they arrived minutes later at the Great Hall for breakfast; most of the tables were already full. They didn't arrive unnoticed and Ginny and Hermione waved from the Gryffindor table, well, probably at Luna, but all of them waved back. The girls sent them a friendly smile in return.

They found seats at the Ravenclaw table and settled in to breakfast. Draco started by taking a long drink of Pumpkin Juice, since for some reason his throat was suddenly dry. Astoria was nervous about the first game of the season but ate heartily anyway, not knowing when she would get her next meal. Draco glanced up at the magical ceiling and was pleased to see it was a nice clear day, great for flying. After they had settled the first pangs of hunger Draco looked to Astoria.

"Hey Astoria, I was just thinking about Daphne this morning, what is she up to these days?" Draco asked, between bites of scrambled eggs.

Astoria seemed startled by the question. "What brought Daphne to mind." She asked very casually, taking a bite of sausage.

"Actually I had been thinking about your goal keeping abilities, comparing how you defend the hoops with the same dedication that you do younger students. It just reminded me that Daphne had often protected the lower years as well."

"Oh." Astoria blushed a little and smiled. "She's doing really good actually, she left after her 6th year here to study abroad at the Wizarding Academy of Dramatic Arts. She'll be there for another 2 years. Did she ever sing around you?"

"Yea, she was really good actually."

From what he remembered of Daphne she had a beautiful singing voice and her looks…well, she had always been easy to notice. She and Astoria shared that trait in common. They were both great looking, he was a guy, of course he had looked. Something had always kept him from approaching the beautiful Slytherin girl though.

"Hmm" Astoria was thoughtful. "Well anyway she really wants to be a singer, it's pretty much why she ended up in Slytherin, she has a lot of ambition."

That made sense, not everybody who went to Slytherin were bad people, many of them had ambitious dreams and goals and could be very single minded. That tended to make them good fits for the house that valued desire and greatness above all else.

"Do you get to see her very often?" He asked.

"She'll be home for Christmas and she might come back in the summer but she's not sure yet." Astoria answered and then changed the subject. "Helen, are you going to be studying again today or will you be watching the game?"

"I'll come to the game, but I have to study again this evening, you should join me Draco, we can work on our DADA homework. It's due on Monday."

"Sounds like a plan." Draco said, returning his attention to his breakfast.

When breakfast was finished it was time to head down to the Quidditch pitch. All the students were filing out of the room and Draco ended up at the door with a number of Slytherin students nearby. They glared at him and pulled their robes back to avoid touching him or any of the girls. This actually did more to piss him off then any of the previous attacks and before he realized what he was doing, his hand was resting on his wand and he was snarling at them, the old sneer of hatred twisting his face. The Slytherin student's eyes grew wide and they collectively backed up putting distance between themselves and the sudden appearance of the old Draco.

He felt a small hand on his arm and looked down to see who had at the temerity to touch him, and found himself staring into a pair of guileless blue eyes, set under a ridiculous hat. "Come Draco, we don't want Astoria to be late to the match."

Draco blinked, coming back to himself. His face fell and his hand dropped away from his wand. He turned away from the Slytherin's who had not moved and walked out with the woman who somehow, in such a short time, knew him so well.

Draco was silent as they moved down to the pitch. Astoria and Helen kept up a running conversation about their visit to Hogsmede yesterday while Luna remained her normal quiet self.

Slowing just a little bit Draco put some distance between himself and his friends but Luna, who didn't even seem to be paying attention to where she was going, remained by his side.

"Don't worry Draco." She said quietly.

He didn't pretend not to understand "How can I not worry? I was going to attack them, just for being rude." He replied, just as quietly.

"But you didn't, that's all that matters."

"Only because you stopped me." Draco sounded sad.

"Two years ago, even last year, you wouldn't have stopped just because I was there. In fact it was just as likely I'd be a target. I believe in you Draco, I've always believed in you, before you even knew there was something to believe in. I know you've changed, others are learning it too and it's why some in Slytherin hate you so much. But complete change takes time, and instinct may always play a part. Your instinct to protect others may have had more to do with the decisions you made in the past than you may think. Give yourself time."

It was the longest, and most sensible, speech he had ever heard Luna give. He placed his hand on her arm and stopped, she stopped with him.

"Thanks Luna, I really appreciate it…and you." Draco leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He had a fleeting thought of another he wouldn't mind kissing.

"That's fine; I'm only doing my part." Luna said in her quiet soft voice.

They didn't notice that others had in interest in their conversation.

They started walking again; and looking around Draco noted that Astoria was headed off to the team changing room to finish getting ready and get her pep talk before the match started. Draco and Luna caught up with Helen and headed into the stands along with the rest of Ravenclaw house.

The match started a short while later. There was a new announcer this year; Draco hoped he had some idea what he was doing. The Headmistress was seated in the box next to him. Draco thought he might be from Hufflepuff house, which meant the match would be fairly commentated if nothing else.

He looked around the stands; everybody was wearing their house colors. Draco recalled how that had been an issue for him when he first came back to school. All of his uniforms were in Slytherin colors, but the following morning he had found 2 sets of robes, 2 ties and other assorted articles in the distinctive Ravenclaw colors of blue and bronze. There was also a note suggesting he order his winter garb soon before it became cold. Draco had sent the order with his beautiful owl Belleza on his first break that morning. Despite his estrangement from his parents, he had funds of his own that he had inherited when he turned 18. That reminded him, he needed to get up to the Owlery to visit her, it had been a while and he didn't want her to think he didn't care.

The unknown commentator was just announcing the team names. From Hufflepuff Eric Summerby was back as Seeker and James Cadwallader and Richard King were back as Chasers. He knew Richard was the captain this year. Richard's twin brother Charles was also back as Keeper. They had two new players he didn't recognize at all as beaters but they were big buggers and looked comfortable on their brooms. They were a fast team and it should be an interesting match.

Then the Ravenclaw team was called and Luna turned on her magical eagle, which drowned out what the commentator was saying. However, he knew the players. Astoria of course as Keeper, then the team captain Allen Foster with Marian Bistry as Chasers, Cody McGregor and Josh Kingsley were the beaters. Jeremy Stridel was the Seeker this year, it was his first year and you could tell he was really nervous. Draco had spent some time working with Jeremy on his seeker skills and thought he was one of the best he'd seen since Harry sat on a broom in their 1st year. Even Harry might have a hard time keeping up with the little bullet Jeremy was turning into.

Madam Hooch moved to the center of the pitch and released the latch on the case that held the balls: the Snitch shot off and was soon lost to sight. The Bludgers remained in their locked positions while Madam Hooch removed the Quaffle and mounted her broom. The two captains came to meet her and she provided them with the standard speech. Draco couldn't hear it but he knew it by heart. "Now I want a good clean game. Captains shake hands." After the two men clasped hands and moved back Madam Hooch brought the whistle to her lips and with one long blast and a toss of the Quaffle the players were on the move. With a subsequent swish of her wand the bludgers were freed and the game was on.

Almost immediately you could tell this was going to be a good game. All of the players were fast and it all seemed to flow like a dance. Allen of Ravenclaw had caught the Quaffle and was passing it back and forth with Marian; however it wasn't long before Richard snatched the ball from between them by coming in from below and passing it to Cadwallader who was above them, they both raced down the pitch toward the Ravenclaw end as the Ravenclaw chasers turned to go after them. King ducked a bludger by rolling over on his broom and with an underhanded toss passed the Quaffle to Cadwallader. "_Ok, these guys are good."_ Draco thought to himself.

Astoria stopped their goal, but only barely and passed the Quaffle on to Foster. As the game progressed Draco found himself studying their moves. Watching and starting to anticipate what the opposing team was going to do next. He'd done this before but never did anything with it because he was always too busy messing with the other teams Seeker. Slytherin tended to use insults and bully tactics to win, not skill.

Ravenclaw scored the first goal when McGregor slammed a bludger at Cadwallader stopping him from intercepting Marian, the other King twin, expecting the move to be blocked was just a smidgeon too late getting in place and the ball passed by his fingertips. The score was 10-0.

It didn't take long to figure out that Hufflepuff had fielded a hell of a team this year. However, it still took another hour before Hufflepuff managed to score twice in quick succession, bringing the score to 10-20. Ravenclaw had been unable to breach the Hufflepuff defense in that same time.

Draco was starting to see that they had a weakness though. Their seeker was slower, and tended to get distracted by the game while the young Ravenclaw seeker was keeping his focus on finding the Snitch. Jeremy also seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, quickly diving or swerving when a Bludger was sent his way, but never taking his eyes from the pitch, constantly searching.

Five hours into the game the score was at a tie 60-60 and all the players were starting to get a little slower. Which is why, when the Hufflepuff Chaser King dodged a Bludger by rolling over on his broom again, the Ravenclaw team misjudged what was to happen next. Since Cadwallader was in position to take the Quaffle on a pass through, just like in the first goal attempt, the Beaters targeted him. However, instead, free and clear, King completed his roll without tossing the Quaffle to his teammate; instead it sailed right through the center goal, while Astoria had anticipated the left one, giving Hufflepuff the lead. If the Hufflepuff seeker got the Snitch now, Ravenclaw would lose, making it very difficult to place above 3rd.

The game continued, and a half hour later, young Jeremy was making a dash for the Hufflepuff end of the pitch. He'd done this before, there had been a dozen false alarms and close catches during the game and the Hufflepuff seeker, now paying close attention was after him in a flash.

Draco could see it, in fact, he had seen it a number of times during the game when the seekers had not, but he didn't judge, this one was incredibly sneaky. He'd talk with Jeremy and do a little post game play-by-play later. The tiny golden Snitch was hiding behind the right-most goal at the Ravenclaw end of the pitch, so he didn't know why Jeremy was headed toward Hufflepuff.

However, as soon as the slightly faster Summerby passed him, Jeremy dove straight for the ground and did a single roll, when he pulled out of the dive a few feet short of smashing into the ground he was headed full speed in the opposite direction. He now far outdistanced Summerby who hadn't noticed he was no longer going in the same direction as the smaller boy. The shout from the Hufflepuff side of the stands was loud, but too late.

Jeremy snatched the Snitch as he shot past the Ravenclaw goal.

Ravenclaw had won, 210-70 in a game that had lasted longer than any in years. Everybody was on their feet, it was a spectacular win, worthy of Harry Potter himself, who Draco could see cheering along with everybody else.

Draco looked at Harry, and after catching his attention, smiled slightly and gave a little nod. Harry nodded back and smiled as well. Oh, the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw game was going to be fun. There was a seeker in Ravenclaw that might just rival the best seeker the school had seen in a hundred years. However, he was young and inexperienced, but Draco could work with that. He'd been watching Harry long enough that he didn't fear that he could help prepare Jeremy and maybe even add in a few tricks of his own.

The teams were headed back to change, they were completely wiped out though and dragging their brooms behind them. Draco suddenly grinned and grabbing Luna and Helen by the hands he said, "Let's go, we need to get some food for the common room, they'll need to eat and get some sleep. And they deserve a celebration." With that said, he broke into a run, dragging the girls behind him, laughing.

Luna's hat had gone silent some time ago, the magic having worn off, so it was just chattering students, reliving the best parts of the game as the three of them rushed back to the school. Luna had not seen Draco ever look for happy, he was laughing and seemed years younger than normal. He was pulling them into the castle, however, he didn't head for Ravenclaw house, instead pulling the girls with him down toward the basement.

"We're going the wrong way Draco." Helen said, but in a laughing voice, this was the most fun she had had in a while and Draco's enjoyment was infectious.

"No, we need to get food, trust me." Draco said and soon had pulled them up, stopping beside a painting of a bowl of fruit that hung on a wall directly below the Great Hall. He had been following Harry years before and seen them come here. He reached out and lightly ran his fingers over the pear, almost like he was tickling it. The pear shivered and a door opened in the wall.

A house elf stood in the doorway. His tea towel neat and pressed, Draco thought it might be the same elf who had come up to Professor Flitwick's office the day he was sorted into his new home.

"How may Dinkle help Master, Mistresses?" the squeaky voice asked.

It was the same elf, he must run the castle staff of House Elves. "Ravenclaw just won the first match of the season. I was hoping we might be able to get some food worthy of a celebration?" Draco asked, very polite.

"Of course Master, come in, come in, Dinkle would be happy to help."

"Winky, come, Master and Mistresses need some food for a celebration." The house elf called out, his high pitched voice carrying across the room.

"Oh yes, Winky would be happy to help." Another voice answered, and a female House Elf hurried up to them. He could see dozens of House Elves in the room, preparing food and placing large platters along the tables that he saw matched the layout of the tables above in the Great Hall.

The little elf bowed low and looked up at him. Her large round eyes got even rounder, in what seemed to be surprise. "Master Draco?" she squeaked.

"Yes, I'm Draco, how did you know?" He asked, surprised that a House Elf would know him.

"Oh, Winky was good friends with Dobby sir, Dobby always spoke very highly of his young Master, called you his friend he did. Dobby was sad that you were mad at him, but Dobby said he understood. Dobby was sorry he was never able to tell you the truth. But he told Winky."

"Told you the truth? He was sad about me? I don't understand." Draco was stunned. He had never known any other House Elves and after what Dobby had done, he hadn't wanted to.

"Dobby told Winky sir, told her what he had done when Master was a young boy. Dobby was sad that he had to make the young master sad, but Master would have got in trouble you see." Winky replied.

"What, no I don't see, I didn't have anything to do with Dobby, and he certainly wasn't my friend." Draco was becoming upset, he didn't want to talk to this little elf and he was quickly regretting coming here.

"Winky is sorry Master, Dobby never told you, of course Master wouldn't see. Winky is bad for not realizing that." With that the little elf ran to the wall and banged her head against it.

Dinkle ran over to her, "Stop that now, you know Headmistress doesn't like it when we punish ourselves without permission."

Winky stopped like a freeze spell had been placed on her; she panted for a few seconds and then turned back to Draco. "Winky is sorry young Master and Mistresses had to see that, Winky is still trying to remember all the new rules." She straightened her tea towel and walked back over to Draco, Luna and Helen.

Luna and Helen were simply staring, they had never had much contact with House Elves and weren't sure how to react.

"Dobby tells Winky all about it, about how his old Master ordered Dobby to take young Master's pet and drown it. But sir, Dobby couldn't do it; Dobby knew it would make young master sad. So Dobby hid it instead, Dobby had to punish himself over and over again. Dobby fed it and helped it get better and then Dobby gave it to another House Elf whose family would take care of it. Dobby was very sad that he couldn't tell young Master what he had done, but Dobby was scared you would get in trouble. Dobby tells Winky, hoping that maybe Winky can tell you some day. Dobby didn't want you to be sad anymore." Winky seemed to run out of breath and was again panting slightly.

Draco was in shock and no thoughts could make their way out of his brain. He didn't even realize that tears were running down his cheeks until Luna quietly and stealthily placed a kerchief into his hand. This broke the spell that seemed to hold him and a choked sob escaped his control.

Draco got down onto his knees in front of Winky, put out his arms and slowly pulled her to him in a tight hug, "Thank you Winky, thank you for telling me." It was as though a great weight had been lifted, all those years that he had hated Dobby and all Dobby had done was protect him. He owed that little elf and he could never repay him.

Winky patted his back with her little hands. "Winky doesn't need thanks young Master, Winky was just doing the right thing." She pulled back "But young Master has a celebration right? Winky thinks it is better for young Master to celebrate. Not to be sad anymore, Dobby would not want young Master to be sad."

Draco stood back up, using the kerchief to wipe his cheeks and blow his nose. He would have it cleaned and returned to Luna later.

Both Luna and Helen each took one of his hands and together they gave him a group hug, he was sandwiched by affection and it felt strange and wonderful.

In the Ravenclaw Common room the students enjoyed the food, Butterbeer and deserts that were provided by the generous House Elves and Draco celebrated with them. He was now a full member of this large and extended family, with the closest being the three young women who seemed to make his life complete. The party didn't end until Professor Flitwick arrived to break it up, well, actually it ended when he left; following food, Butterbeer and the tales of a remarkable win. After all it is rude not to offer refreshments to a visitor.

**Wow, longest chapter yet I think. **

**I love this chapter, it may very well turn out to be my favorite of the entire book. I hope you guys get "feels" from this ****J**

**But there is much much more to say yet. **

**Enemies to meet, and hopefully to defeat. **

**Tell me what you think, vote and if you feel up to it, share it with your friends. Until we meet again.**


	10. Pain and Possibilities

Chapter 10

**Misunderstandings**

Charms class was over and as Draco headed to the door, tucking his books in his backpack Luna rushed up to him and grasped his hand.

"You need to talk to us Draco." She said, her normally dreamy blue eyes intent.

Draco looked behind her and saw Astoria and Helen headed their way. He fully intended to talk them about why he had been avoiding them but first he needed to talk to somebody else.

"I can't right now Luna, I have to do something else first." She gave him a look of disappointment but when Astoria gave a snort and drew Luna's attention away Draco pulled his hand free and moved off. He ignored Luna calling behind him.

He needed to meet with Dumbledore, the appointment had already been made and he wanted to get Dumbledor's advise, before he talked to the girls.

He had met with the former Headmaster on a number of occasions since the start of the year, about every two weeks. Their talks tended to revolve around how Draco was handling the stresses at the school, his attacks and recoveries and the history that had led him to make such a dramatic change in his life and personality. Draco found it therapeutic to talk with the former Headmaster, he could tell the painting things that he didn't even tell Luna.

It wasn't even until their last meeting that they had talked about what he had done over the summer. Draco didn't think it was much but Dumbledore had seemed fascinated by everything he had done. He had started with the moment he had left the office that day.

*****The day of the Battle for Hogwarts*****

Draco was thoughtful as he left the Headmasters office, he walked until he was outside the school grounds. His parents had already left and to his surprise, he found them waiting for him when he reached the gates.

"Come Draco" His mother said "We are going home."

"Where have you been, we've been waiting for over an hour?" His father demanded, full sneer back in place now that he could pretend he was relevant again.

"I took a walk." That was it, nothing else. He looked at his mother and said "I'm ready to go."

Before his father could say anything else Draco and his mother had disapparated back to the Malfoy home. His father arrived right behind them and as soon as he was steady he started in on Draco.

"How dare you ignore me?! Get inside, NOW! We have plans to make, we must salvage this situation, make it work to our favor. The blood-traitors will be working to clean things up, make sure the Muggles (he sneered the word) are unaware that anything has happened. If I can get to the right people we can say we were Imperiused. With a generous incentive, they will forget we had anything to do with it." Lucius was back, ready to twist the Wizard world around it long rich finger once again.

However, what he did not expect was that the Muggles were not the new Ministries first concern. The seat of Voldemort's power in England was. As they passed through the gates to the grounds, they saw men and women everywhere. Checking every outbuilding and going in and out of the manor with piles of papers and boxes floating before them. It seems that they were being raided and Draco gave a small half smile when he father came to a dead halt.

"What the bloody hell are you people doing in my home? You have no right to barge in here, I've a mind to have you up on charges of theft of personal property." Lucius Malfoy was stunned but doing his best to hide it. He needed to maintain, or regain, the upper hand. "Who are your superiors, I want to speak to them now!"

Draco looked at his father, and then at his mother. When both remained focused on those coming out of the home, and on a particular tall dark Wizard who Draco knew to be Kingley Shacklebolt, he decided he would just leave them to it.

He didn't get far though. He, his father and his mother were all taken into custody. They were not put immediately on trial though. Draco himself was only in custody for less than 3 days. He was not afraid of what was to happen, a large part of him knew he deserved whatever punishment was dished out. A small part insisted on saying he didn't have a choice, on making excuses. On the 2nd day he was taken to be questioned, he agreed to Veritaserum being used and proceeded to tell them everything he knew. He didn't try to hold back and often colored his own words in such a way as to make himself look even guiltier, though it was not a conscious attempt. When the questions were finished and he had explained everything that he had done and that had happened since before the start of his 6th year he expected to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban Prison.

They sent him back to his cell and he stayed another night. He had no contact with anybody but those who brought him his meals. He didn't see or hear his parents while he was there.

The next morning he was again escorted to the room where his questioning had taken place. There Kingley Shacklebolt was waiting for him, he had heard from his jailors that Kingley was the acting Minister now.

"Draco Malfoy, please, sit down." Shacklebolt had the deepest voice Draco had ever heard and in the past it had always made a chill go down his spine but not today. Draco sat down and waited to hear the verdict. Hands folded neatly in his lap.

"After reviewing your testimony yesterday, as well as the testimony of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley and the portrait Albus Dumbledore; it has been determined that you acted under extreme duress during the past two years. Though the near deaths of Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley would normally earn you a place in Azkaban Prison for the rest of your life, it was also determined that what you suffered at the hands of Tom Riddle was such that Azkaban would be nothing more than extreme measures in your case."

Draco was stunned, his mouth dropped open as the meaning of these words sunk in. He wasn't going to be punished? How did that make any sense?

"But that doesn't make any sense, none of those people, except maybe Professor Dumbledore, would stand up for me. I've been their enemy from the first day of school, they hate me, and they should. Sir, I did horrible things, I…I should be punished, I need to be, I need to make things right." Draco stammered to a halt.

"But you don't need to go to prison to do it Draco, in fact, being in prison is the exact opposite of being able to make things right. That would be the easy road for you; you wouldn't actually have to do anything except exist. There are higher expectations for your reformation than sitting in a cell would allow.

When you leave here today you will be expected to prove you are worth it. Just being a Malfoy will not be enough, the use of money, of buying your way to forgiveness will not work. You will have to actually work for it. Do you understand?" The Acting Minister kept his intimidating gaze on Draco's face.

"I think so, Dumbledore said something similar once, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to do it. It's not like anybody will listen or even believe me if I say I'm sorry." Draco replied.

The Ministers deep voice had a note of a smile in it. "Of course they won't, words are cheap…, but actions speak." He turned serious again. "Your father bought a lot of words with his coin, but in the end, they will not forgive what was done at his own home.

"You will be allowed to return to your home today in order to gather some belongings, but you cannot stay there. The Ministry will be there for some time before everything is settled. What you choose to take will be searched in order to ensure nothing questionable is removed. All Malfoy assets have been frozen, if you have any cash in the home you will be allowed to take enough to survive until you turn 18. This is when an inheritance becomes available to you correct? I believe that is in just a couple weeks?"

"Yes, an inheritance from my Grandfather, from long before the return of the Dark L" Draco stopped, "Long before _his_ return."

"Do you have somewhere you can go in the meantime?" Kingley asked kindly.

"No, but I'll figure something out."

***** Present day*****

And he had, it had not been easy but he had survived. He had arrived at the Headmistresses office and the time for remembrances was over.

He looked at the gargoyle protecting the entrance. "Bannockburn" He said and the gargoyle obligingly rotated to the side, revealing the winding staircase behind it. He climbed the now familiar steps and knocked on the door at the top.

"Come in Mr. Malfoy." The voice of the Headmistress came through the door.

Draco opened the door and stepped in, it looked the same as the last time he was here. After the first couple of meetings with Dumbledore a chair and table had been set up nearby his portrait. The table held a jug of pumpkin juice and a cup for him as well as a small bin of her tartan clad cookies. He always appreciated the gesture that the Headmistress made for him, especially since he was kicking her out of her own office when he met with the former Headmaster.

"How are you feeling Draco?" McGonagall asked as she adjusted her pointed wizard hat.

"Fine thank you ma'am, I've been getting better at recovering." He replied.

"Very cheeky, well, see that you try to avoid improving on the skill in the future young man. I shall leave you two to yourselves then, Draco, don't forget your report is due next week."

"Yes Ma'am." Draco would swear she had just joked with him, if he didn't know that Professor McGonagall never joked.

Draco moved over and sat in the chair that placed him at an angle to the portrait of the man he had come to see.

"Good day Draco, I trust you are well?" The portrait never changed, Dumbledore still had the same half-smile, half-closed eyes and half-moon glasses that he always had. His long white hair hanging past his shoulders and his hat perched jauntily on his head. The beard hung below the portrait frame but Draco knew it reached nearly to his knees.

Draco had stopped giving half-truths to the ever-observant portrait so instead of continuing their prior conversation about his summer, he addressed the problem that was occupying him today.

"Not really professor, I think somebody who I thought was my friend isn't." Draco said, straight out. "I think she still holds my past against me."

"What makes you think this?" Dumbledore asked.

"It's kind of hard to talk about. I like her, and I thought she liked me. But she didn't." Draco stopped, not really sure what else he could say that would make sense.

"Come Draco, one of the benefits of being as dignified, or shall I say old, as myself is that there is rarely anything that we have not heard before. Maybe we even lived it ourselves." Dumbledore prompted him.

"I like her, she's nice and strong and protective and I thought she liked me too. Maybe I was seeing something that wasn't there though. Because when I asked her if she wanted to go to Hogsmede with me she got really mad and said." Here Draco broke off, his voice cracking "She said she would never go out with me and that I should leave her alone. She even called me by my last name and she knows I don't like it. It felt like I got stabbed in the gut."

"Why would you think this would have anything to do with your past?" Dumbledore asked.

"What else could it be? I didn't do anything else. I've been having a really good year, not counting the nearly dying and all I mean. I have…had…actual real friends for the first time in my life. Harry and I are getting along ok, we'll never be best friends but that's fine, we don't really have much in common. I mean, when you take out all the bad things anyway. The Gryffindor folks aren't hexing me anymore. I'm enjoying all my classes and getting good grades. I can't think of anything I did that could have caused her to hate me again."

The former Headmaster was thoughtful and Draco poured himself some pumpkin juice and took a couple of cookies from the tin, placing them on the small plate in front of him.

The professor seemed deep in thought which was interrupted by another voice.

"Excuse me young man, may I make an inquiry?" It was the portrait of Dilys Derwent, one of the most famous Headmasters in Hogwarts history and a celebrated healer at St. Mungo's hospital. She had often joined their discussions as she was highly intelligent. She had come from Ravenclaw after all so it was to be expected.

"Of course Headmistress." Draco responded, turning his attention to her.

"I should like to present an opposing view to your supposition. It has ever been the way of the young to think that what you heard was what was said. However, if you are to be a true Ravenclaw you must rely on fact and avoid speculation.

"Logic dictates that additional information would be required before you reach an erroneous conclusion which could exacerbate your situation. After all a conclusion without sufficient facts to support it is faulty at the core, even if that conclusion should prove to be accurate in the end. The very process of determining the facts often sheds a new light on the case allowing the conclusion to be viewed in an entirely different manner."

Draco thought he must have a hearing a problem because though she seemed to be speaking English he didn't understand a word she said.

"What she means Draco, is you have to talk to the girl, find out what she meant by what she said, before you assume and make things worse."

Draco was thoughtful when he left the Headmistresses office. He ran the most recent conversation with Astoria over in his mind and was no closer to understanding why she turned on him than he had been before. He ran the past two months over in his mind, all of his interactions with Astoria, trying to find some explanation for why she still didn't trust him, but like his conversation with her he found nothing.

He hadn't done anything, said anything or even thought anything that should have given her any reason to distrust him.

So if the fault wasn't with him, maybe it was with what happened around him. Maybe she was worried about Luna and Helen and didn't believe they would be safe around him. After all, people kept trying to kill him, anybody around him would be in danger as well. Maybe she just took the opportunity to push him away so that they would be safe. That actually made sense, but she should have talked to him about it, instead of being cruel.

That was what struck him the most, rather than using her logical mind, she had resorted to a treachery worthy of a Slytherin. How did that make her any better than him, maybe he was a danger to her friends but he didn't mean to be and he didn't deserve the kind of pain she had caused him. She should have just talked to him, he would have understood.

He didn't go back to the common room right away, instead walking the halls of the castle, slowly but surely working himself up to a point where he knew he would have to confront her. Helen and Luna deserved an explanation for why he was avoiding them and he needed to know why Astoria had chosen the path she did to protect them.

In the common room the three girls were quiet, working on their Charms papers due next week. Astoria had been unusually quiet all week and the other two knew something had happened between her and Draco. But whenever they tried to question her about it she would just say it was nothing and that she didn't want to talk about it. While Helen was confused, Luna was starting to get angry and an angry Luna was a rare sight to see.

Lunch time rolled around and they were packing up their books when suddenly Luna broke the silence.

"I don't know what you did or said Astoria, but you hurt him. He won't even talk to me about it. But he is sad, his spirit hurts, and you did it. What kind of friend would do that to another."

With that, Luna left the common room, and Astoria, stunned, could only watch her.

Helen looked from the door that Luna had passed through back to Astoria. "You need to make this right."

"You don't understand Helen, Draco isn't who we thought he was, he's no better than any other Slytherin, I don't know why the Sorting Hat thought he fit in here."

Then she headed out the door as well, Helen sighed and followed her.

The three sat beside each other, after all they were friends, that would never change, but they sat in silence. Each consumed by her own thoughts. Those thoughts were interrupted though when Draco showed up.

He sat down across from Astoria and stared at her.

At first she just ignored him and continued to eat, but after a while the constant feel of his eyes on her got to her.

"What?!" Her voice was mean, angry.

"Now _**that**_, is a very good question." Draco said.

"What do you want Malfoy?" scorn dripped from voice.

Draco suppressed his initial desire to snap at her. It wasn't the way to resolve this.

"I want to know why you said what you did; I want to know why you chose to hurt me instead of talk to me? Isn't that the way Ravenclaw is supposed to work?" Draco asked, between clenched teeth.

"If you have to ask how Ravenclaw works, maybe you don't belong here. Maybe the Hat got it wrong." She replied.

"You know what I learned from the Hat Astoria? I learned that there is a little bit of every house in each of us." Draco said but felt guilty when he saw the flash of hurt in her eyes.

However, he needed to keep going "I'm sorry, that was mean, but what you said hurt, and I think I have the right to know why."

"You know exactly what you did Draco, and if you want to talk about this, we can do it later." Astoria glanced at the girls next to her.

"I don't think so, I think it's important to face this now, before it becomes something more than we can handle. If we can't resolve it, then perhaps the mediation option can." Draco made the offer, though he hoped she wouldn't want to do that.

Astoria gave Draco her full attention at this. "No, no mediation. If you want to have this out now, fine, let's talk. What you did was wrong Draco, you never should have approached me, even you should understand that."

"I think I understand why you did it, but I've thought a lot about my actions, not just from that day, but from the last two months. I wasn't able to find anything that I had done personally that would have caused you to lash out at me like that. If you had concerns you should've just voiced them." Draco was calming down, he had started thinking logically again and he was kind of enjoying it. He knew they would get to the point eventually.

"That right there is your problem Draco, you don't think you did anything wrong. Something tells me though that Luna wouldn't feel the same way." Astoria sounded exasperated, like he just wasn't getting it.

"Don't bring me into this Astoria, you need to work this out for yourself." Luna stated.

Astoria threw up her hands and practically growled "You're already in it Luna, Merlin!, are you that spacey that you can't see he was trying to cheat on you?"

Astoria clapped her hands over her mouth, her eye's gone wide and suddenly filled with tears. "Oh Luna I am so sorry, I didn't mean to say that."

"Why? I can be spacey, it helps clear the mind of Nargles" Luna said, unperturbed.

Helen slowly raised her hand, "Um, I think I see the problem here."

"Finally! Somebody gets it." Astoria said.

"Actually, you're the one who doesn't get it. You think Luna and Draco are together?"

"Yes, of course, that's obvious." Astoria said, clearly upset.

Luna and Draco looked at each other and several moments passed before Luna spoke, saying very seriously.

"I'm sorry Draco, but I've never felt that way about you. I mean, you're like a brother to me."

Draco looked back at Astoria and said very softly "We aren't going out Astoria, we never have."

Astoria sat stunned, and slowly, as what they said sunk in, she got the point. Draco and Luna weren't together and she had been wrong, so very wrong. She jumped up from the table and blushing bright red, tears making a path down her cheeks she ran out of the Great Hall. With everybody in the room watching.

Helen looked from the running Astoria and back to Draco who just looked pained. What had just happened clicked for her as she got that the person Draco had supposedly tried to "cheat" on Luna with, was Astoria herself. "Draco, go after her!"

Draco quickly jumped up and ran after her. "Wait, Astoria, just wait." Draco had a hard time catching her up, the girl ran like the wind. When he did get close enough, he caught her arm, stopping so abruptly they both nearly fell down.

"Let me go, please just let me go." Astoria's voice was small, forlorn and lost. Draco couldn't stand it.

"No, no Astoria, we're not quite done yet. You understand now that Luna and I aren't together right? I mean, she's like my wacky little sister. I love her, but not like that." Draco tried to catch Astoria's eyes.

"I'm so sorry Draco, I'm so sorry about what I said. I really thought, after I saw you kiss her, that you were together. When you asked me out, I couldn't believe you would do something like that. It just made me so mad." Astoria was sniffling, her head down, avoiding looking at Draco.

"There's blame enough to go around. At first I thought you still didn't trust me, that I was good enough to be your friend, but nothing more and that just the idea of anything else disgusted you." Draco's voice was quiet. "I jumped to conclusions too, thinking the worst.

"Then I talked to Professor Dumbledore and he and one of the other former Headmasters helped me see that that just didn't make sense. So then I thought you were pushing me away to protect your friends. That the last time somebody tried to hurt me was just one time too many. Again, I assumed. But now I knew I had to talk to you to straighten it out.

"But I was still wrong. You only thought one bad thing about me, I condemned you without even asking twice. I know now you would never do that, never hurt me on purpose. I'm really sorry Astoria." Draco pulled her toward him, hugging her close, like a friend.

Astoria sniffled some more and wiped her eye's with the back of her hand. Then she looked up at Draco and his heart just…..stopped.

Her eyes were like melted chocolate, when it gets that pretty sheen that reflects the light around it.

"You really wanted to go with me to Hogsmede?" She smiled tremulously.

Draco pulled back a little "Well…" he started, 'if you really want to, I guess I could go with you."

Astoria smiled, pulled back and punched him on the arm.

"OW!" He yelped, faking (pretty much) the pain "Your being mean to me again."

**Dang this one was hard, I just don't remember being a teenager, so if this sounds all wrong, sorry.**

**Thanks again to the Peanut Gallery for trying to make sure I didn't completely sound like a dork. That's right, I said dork, yup, I'm old.**

**Vote and comment, let me know what you think, a little feedback goes a long way.**


	11. Misunderstandings

Chapter 10

**Misunderstandings**

Charms class was over and as Draco headed to the door, tucking his books in his backpack Luna rushed up to him and grasped his hand.

"You need to talk to us Draco." She said, her normally dreamy blue eyes intent.

Draco looked behind her and saw Astoria and Helen headed their way. He fully intended to talk them about why he had been avoiding them but first he needed to talk to somebody else.

"I can't right now Luna, I have to do something else first." She gave him a look of disappointment but when Astoria gave a snort and drew Luna's attention away Draco pulled his hand free and moved off. He ignored Luna calling behind him.

He needed to meet with Dumbledore, the appointment had already been made and he needed to talk to him before he talked to the girls.

He had met with the former Headmaster on a number of occasions since the start of the year, about every two weeks. Their talks tended to revolve around how Draco was handling the stresses at the school, his attacks and recoveries and the history that had led him to make such a dramatic change in his life and personality. Draco found it therapeutic to talk with the former Headmaster, he could tell the painting things that he didn't even tell Luna.

It wasn't until their last meeting that they had talked about what he had done over the summer. Draco didn't think it was much but Dumbledore had seemed fascinated by everything he had done.

When Draco left the school that day, the day of The Battle for Hogwarts, he walked until he was outside the school grounds. His parents had already left and to his surprise, he found them waiting for him when he reached the gates.

"Come Draco" His mother said "We are going home."

"Where have you been, we've been waiting for over an hour?" His father demanded, full sneer back in place now that he could pretend he was relevant again.

"I took a walk." That was it, nothing else. He looked at his mother and said "I'm ready to go."

Before his father could say anything else Draco and his mother had disapparated back to the Malfoy home. His father arrived right behind them and as soon as he was steady he started in on Draco.

"How dare you ignore me?! Get inside, NOW! We have plans to make, we must salvage this situation, make it work to our favor. The blood-traitors will be working to clean things up, make sure the Muggles (he sneered the word) are unaware that anything has happened. If I can get to the right people we can say we were Imperiused. With a generous incentive, they will forget we had anything to do with it." Lucius was back, ready to twist the Wizard world around it long rich finger once again.

However, what he did not expect was that the Muggles were not the new Ministries first concern. The seat of Voldemort's power in England was. As they passed through the gates to the grounds, they saw men and women everywhere. Checking every outbuilding and going in and out of the manor with piles of papers and boxes floating before them. It seems that they were being raided and Draco gave a small half smile when he father came to a dead halt.

"What the bloody hell are you people doing in my home? You have no right to barge in here, I've a mind to have you up on charges of theft of personal property." Lucius Malfoy was stunned but doing his best to hide it. He needed to maintain, or regain, the upper hand. "Who are your superiors, I want to speak to them now!"

Draco looked at his father, and then at his mother. When both remained focused on those coming out of the home, and on a particular tall dark Wizard who Draco knew to be Kingley Shacklebolt, he decided he would just leave them to it.

He didn't get far though. He, his father and his mother were all taken into custody. They were not put immediately on trial though. Draco himself was only in custody for 2 days. He was not afraid of what was to happen, a large part of him knew he deserved whatever punishment was dished out. A small part insisted on saying he didn't have a choice, on making excuses. On the 2nd day he was taken to be questioned, he agreed to Veritaserum being used and proceeded to tell them everything he knew. He didn't try to hold back and often colored his own words in such a way as to make himself look even guiltier, though it was not a conscious attempt. When the questions were finished and he had explained everything that he had done and that had happened since before the start of his 6th year he expected to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban Prison.

They sent him back to his cell and he stayed another night. He had no contact with anybody but those who brought him his meals. He didn't see or hear his parents while he was there.

The next morning he was again escorted to the room where his questioning had taken place. There Kingley Shacklebolt was waiting for him, he had heard from his jailors that Kingley was the acting Minister now.

"Draco Malfoy, please, sit down." Shacklebolt had the deepest voice Draco had ever heard and in the past it had always made a chill go down his spine but not today. Draco sat down and waited to hear the verdict. Hands folded neatly in his lap.

"After reviewing your testimony yesterday, as well as the testimony of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley and the portrait Albus Dumbledore; it has been determined that you acted under extreme duress during the past two years. Though the near deaths of Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley would normally earn you a place in Azkaban Prison for the rest of your life, it was also determined that what you suffered at the hands of Tom Riddle was such that Azkaban would be nothing more than extreme measures in your case."

Draco was stunned, his mouth dropped open as the meaning of these words sunk in. He wasn't going to be punished? How did that make any sense?

"But that doesn't make any sense, none of those people, except maybe Professor Dumbledore, would stand up for me. I've been their enemy from the first day of school, they hate me, and they should. Sir, I did horrible things, I…I should be punished, I need to be, I need to make things right." Draco stammered to a halt.

"But you don't need to go to prison to do it Draco, in fact, being in prison is the exact opposite of being able to make things right. That would be the easy road for you; you wouldn't actually have to do anything except exist. There are higher expectations for your reformation than sitting in a cell would allow.

When you leave here today you will be expected to prove you are worth it. Just being a Malfoy will not be enough, the use of money, of buying your way to forgiveness will not work. You will have to actually work for it. Do you understand?" The Acting Minister kept his intimidating gaze on Draco's face.

"I think so, Dumbledore said something similar yesterday at the school, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to do this. It's not like anybody will listen or even believe me if I say I'm sorry." Draco replied.

The Ministers deep voice had a note of a smile in it. "Of course they won't, words are cheap…, but actions speak." He turned serious again. "Your father bought a lot of words with his coin, but in the end, they will not forgive what was done at his own home.

"You will be allowed to return to your home today in order to gather some belongings, but you cannot stay there. The Ministry will be there for some time before everything is settled. What you choose to take will be searched in order to ensure nothing questionable is removed. All Malfoy assets have been frozen, if you have any cash in the home you will be allowed to take enough to survive until you turn 18. This is when an inheritance becomes available to you correct? I believe that is in just a couple weeks?"

"Yes, an inheritance from my Grandfather, from long before the return of the Dark L" Draco stopped, "Long before _his_ return."

"Do you have somewhere you can go in the meantime?" Kingley asked kindly.

"No, but I'll figure something out."

And he had, it had not been easy but he had survived. He had arrived at the Headmistresses office and the time for remembrances was over.

He looked at the gargoyle protecting the entrance. "Bannockburn" He said and the gargoyle obligingly rotated to the side, revealing the winding staircase behind it. He climbed the now familiar steps and knocked on the door at the top.

"Come in Mr. Malfoy." The voice of the Headmistress came through the door.

Draco opened the door and stepped in, it looked the same as the last time he was here. After the first couple of meetings with Dumbledore a chair and table had been set up nearby his portrait. The table held a jug of pumpkin juice and a cup for him as well as a small bin of her tartan clad cookies. He always appreciated the gesture that the Headmistress made for him, especially since he was kicking her out of her own office when he met with the former Headmaster.

"How are you feeling Draco?" the McGonagall asked as she adjusted her pointed wizard hat.

"Fine thank you ma'am, I'm getting better at recovering." He replied.

"Very cheeky, well, see that you try to avoid improving on the skill in the future young man. I shall leave you two to yourselves then, Draco, don't forget your report is due next week."

"Yes Ma'am." Draco would swear she had just joked with him, if he didn't know that Professor McGonagall never joked.

Draco moved over and sat in the chair that placed him at an angle to the portrait of the man he had come to see.

"Good day Draco, I trust you are well?" The portrait never changed, Dumbledore still had the same half-smile, half-closed eyes and half-moon glasses that he always had. His long white hair hanging past his shoulders and his hat perched jauntily on his head. The beard hung below the portrait frame but Draco knew it reached nearly to his knees.

Draco had stopped giving half-truths to the ever-observant picture and moved right to his current troubles.

"Somebody who I thought was my friend isn't anymore." Draco said, straight out. "I think she still holds my past against me."

"What makes you think this?" Dumbledore asked

Draco was a little embarrassed to say, after all, Dumbledore was like 100 years old. Most kids can't talk to their parents about stuff like this, so how are you supposed to talk to somebody old enough to be your Great-Grandfather?

"Come Draco, one of the benefits of being as dignified, or shall I say old, as myself is that there is rarely anything that we have not heard before. Maybe we even lived it ourselves." Dumbledore prompted him.

"I like her, she's nice and strong and protective and I thought she liked me too. Maybe I was seeing something that wasn't there though. Because when I asked her if she wanted to go to Hogsmede with me she got really mad and said." Here Draco broke off, his voice cracking "She said she would never go out with me and that I should leave her alone. She even called me by my last name and she knows I don't like it. It felt like I got stabbed in the gut."

"Why would you think this would have anything to do with your past?" Dumbledore asked.

"What else could it be? I didn't do anything else. I've been having a really good year, not counting the nearly dying and all I mean. I have…had…actual real friends for the first time in my life. Harry and I are getting along ok, we'll never be best friends but that's fine, we don't really have much in common. I mean, when you take out all the bad things anyway. The Gryffindor folks aren't hexing me anymore. I'm enjoying all my classes and getting good grades. I can't think of anything I did that could have caused her to hate me again."

The former Headmaster was thoughtful and Draco poured himself some pumpkin juice and took a couple of cookies from the tin, placing them on the small plate in front of him.

The professor seemed deep in thought which was interrupted by another voice.

"Excuse me young man, may I make an inquiry?" It was the portrait of Dilys Derwent, one of the most famous Headmasters in Hogwarts history and a celebrated healer at St. Mungo's hospital. She had often joined their discussions as she was highly intelligent. She had come from Ravenclaw after all so it was to be expected.

"Of course Headmistress." Draco responded, turning his attention to her.

"I should like to present an opposing view to your supposition. It has ever been the way of the young to think that what you heard was what was said. However, if you are to be a true Ravenclaw you must rely on fact and avoid speculation.

"Logic dictates that additional information would be required before you reach an erroneous conclusion which could exacerbate your situation. After all a conclusion without sufficient facts to support it up is faulty at the core, even if that conclusion should prove to be accurate in the end. The very process of determining the facts often sheds a new light on the case allowing the conclusion to be viewed in an entirely different manner."

Draco thought he must have a hearing a problem because though she seemed to be speaking English he didn't understand a word she said.

"What she means Draco, is you have to talk to the girl, find out what she meant by what she said, before you assume and make things worse."

Draco was thoughtful when he left the Headmistresses office. He ran the most recent conversation with Astoria over in his mind and was no closer to understanding why she turned on him than he had been before. He ran the past two months over in his mind, all of his interactions with Astoria, trying to find some explanation for why she still didn't trust him, but like his conversation with her he found nothing.

He hadn't done anything, said anything or even thought anything that should have given her any reason to distrust him.

So if the fault wasn't with him, maybe it was with what happened around him. Maybe she was worried about Luna and Helen and didn't believe they would be safe around him. After all, people kept trying to kill him, anybody around him would be in danger as well. Maybe she just took the opportunity to push him away so that they would be safe. That actually made sense, but she should have talked to him about it, instead of being cruel.

That was what struck him the most, rather than using her logical mind, she had resorted to a treachery worthy of a Slytherin. How did that make her any better than him, maybe he was a danger to her friends but he didn't mean to be and he didn't deserve the kind of pain she had caused him. She should have just talked to him, he would have understood.

He didn't go back to the common room, instead walking the halls of the castle, slowly but surely working himself up to a point where he knew he would have to confront her. Helen and Luna deserved an explanation for why he was avoiding them and he needed to know why Astoria had chosen the path she did to protect them.

In the common room the three girls were quiet, working on their Charms papers due next week. Astoria had been unusually quiet all week and the other two knew something had happened between her and Draco. But whenever they tried to question her about it she would just say it was nothing and that she didn't want to talk about it. While Helen was confused, Luna was starting to get angry and an angry Luna was a rare sight to see.

Lunch time rolled around and they were packing up their books when suddenly Luna broke the silence.

"I don't know what you did or said Astoria, but you hurt him. He won't even talk to me about it. But he is sad, his spirit hurts, and you did it. What kind of friend would do that to another."

With that, Luna left the common room, and Astoria, stunned, could only watch her.

Helen looked from the door that Luna had passed throughback to Astoria. "You need to make this right."

"You don't understand Helen, Draco isn't who we thought he was, he's no better than any other Slytherin, I don't know why the Sorting Hat thought he fit in here."

Then she headed out the door as well, Helen sighed and followed her.

The three sat beside each other, after all they were friends, that would never change, but they sat in silence. Each consumed by her own thoughts. Those thoughts were interrupted though when Draco showed up.

He sat down across from Astoria and stared at her.

At first she just ignored him and continued to eat, but after a while the constant feel of his eyes on her got to her.

"What?!" Her voice was mean, angry.

"Now _**that**_, is a very good question." Draco said.

"What do you want Malfoy?" scorn dripped from voice.

Draco suppressed his initial desire to snap at her. It wasn't the way to resolve this.

"I want to know why you said what you did; I want to know why you chose to hurt me instead of talk to me? Isn't that the way Ravenclaw is supposed to work?" Draco asked, between clenched teeth.

"If you have to ask how Ravenclaw works, maybe you don't belong here. Maybe the Hat got it wrong." She replied.

"You know what I learned from the Hat Astoria? I learned that there is a little bit of every house in each of us." Draco said but felt guilty when he saw the flash of hurt in her eyes.

However, he needed to keep going "I'm sorry, that was mean, but what you said hurt, and I think I have the right to know why."

"You know exactly what you did Draco, and if you want to talk about this, we can do it later." Astoria glanced at the girls next to her.

"I don't think so, I think it is important to face this now, before it becomes something more than we can handle. If we can't resolve it, then perhaps the mediation option can." Draco made the offer, though he hoped she wouldn't want to do that.

Astoria gave Draco her full attention at this. "No, no mediation. If you want to have this out now, fine, let's talk. What you did was wrong Draco, you never should have approached me, even you should understand that."

"I think I understand why you did it, but I've thought a lot about my actions, not just from that day, but from the last two months. I wasn't able to find anything that I had done personally that should have caused you to lash out at me like that. If you had concerns you should've just voiced them." Draco was calming down, he had started thinking logically again and he was kind of enjoying it. He knew they would get to the point eventually.

"That right there is your problem Draco, you don't think you did anything wrong. Something tells me though that Luna wouldn't feel the same way." Astoria sounded exasperated, like he just wasn't getting it.

"Don't bring me into this Astoria, you need to work this out for yourself." Luna advised.

Astoria threw up her hands and practically growled "You're already in it Luna, Merlin!, are you that spacey that you can't see he was trying to cheat on you?"

Astoria clapped her hands over her mouth, her eye's gone wide and suddenly filled with tears. "Oh Luna I am so sorry, I didn't mean to say that."

"Why? I can be spacey, it helps clear the mind of Nargles" Luna said, unperturbed.

Helen slowly raised her hand, "Um, I think I see the problem here."

"Finally! Somebody gets it." Astoria said.

"Actually, you're the one who doesn't get it. You think Luna and Draco are together?"

"Yes, of course, that's obvious." Astoria said, clearly upset.

Luna and Draco looked at each other, a full 10 seconds passed before they both broke into uncontrollable laughter.

Astoria sat stunned, and slowly, as their laughter continued, she go the point. Draco and Luna weren't together and apparently the very idea was hilarious to them.

"Oh, oh no." With that, Astoria jumped up from the table and blushing bright red, tears making a path down her cheeks she ran out of the Great Hall. With everybody in the room watching her.

Draco quickly regaining control of himself, jumped up and ran after her. "Wait, Astoria, just wait." Draco had a hard time catching her up, girl ran like the wind. When he did get close enough, he caught her arm, stopping so abruptly they both nearly fell down.

"Let me go, please let me go." Astoria's voice was small, forlorn and lost. Draco couldn't stand it.

"No, no Astoria, we're not quite done yet. You understand now that Luna and I aren't together right? I mean, she's like my wacky little sister. I love her, but not like that." Draco tried to catch Astoria's eyes.

"I'm so sorry Draco, I'm so sorry about what I said. I really thought, after I saw you kiss her, that you were together. When you asked me out, I couldn't believe you would do something like that. It just made me so mad." Astoria was sniffling, her head down, avoiding looking at Draco.

"There is blame enough to go around. At first I thought you still didn't trust me, that I was good enough to be your friend, but nothing more and that just the idea of anything else disgusted you." Draco's voice was quiet. "I jumped to conclusions too, thinking the worst.

"Then I talked to Professor Dumbledore and he and one of the other former Headmasters helped me see that that just didn't make sense. So then I thought you were pushing me away to protect your friends. That the last time somebody tried to hurt me was just one time too many. Again, I assumed. But now I knew I had to talk to you to straighten it out.

"But I was still wrong. You only thought one bad thing about me, I condemned you without even asking twice. I know now you would never do that, never hurt me on purpose. I'm really sorry Astoria." Draco pulled her toward him, hugging her close, like a friend.

Astoria sniffled some more and wiped her eye's with the back of her hand. Then she looked up at Draco and his heart just…..stopped.

Her eyes were like melted chocolate, when it gets that pretty sheen that reflects the light around it.

"You really wanted to go with me to Hogsmede?" She smiled tremulously.

Draco pulled back a little "Well…" he started, 'if you really want to, I guess I could go with you."

Astoria smiled, pulled back and punched him on the arm.

"OW!" He yelped, faking (pretty much) the pain "Your being mean to me again."

**Dang this one was hard, I just don't remember being a teenager, so if this sounds all wrong, sorry.**

**Thanks again to the Peanut Gallery for trying to make sure I didn't completely sound like a dork. That's right, I said dork, yup, I'm old.**

**Vote and comment, let me know what you think, a little feedback goes a long way.**


	12. Unexpected Enemies

Chapter 11

**Unexpected Enemies**

Everything was good again between the four friends. Helen and Luna were happy for Draco and Astoria, though Helen did worry a little about what would happen to their friendship if the two of them didn't work out. She discussed her concerns with Luna but Luna didn't share them, she was completely comfortable with the situation.

Between the three of them Draco received the unconditional love he didn't have when he was growing up and it made so much difference in his life. Luna was the little sister he always wanted, Helen was almost mother-like with her wise ways while Astoria was his childhood sweetheart.

The following Saturday, Draco spent a good part of the day working with the Ravenclaw seeker. Jeremy was coming along real well. The boy was a true bullet on the field and with additional training he would learn the tips and tricks that would make him unbeatable.

On Sunday Luna and Draco sat down to discuss their Extra Credit Project for Muggle Studies in the Library. Draco searched the shelves for any clue where to start. Muggle related books tended to focus on the history of Muggle attacks on Wizards and Witches.

However, there was one book called the "Theory of Magical Evolution" that discussed the possible origins of magic and why only some humans evolved to be able to wield the forces of nature. It also briefly explained the history and purpose of wands to focus magical energy. The use of wands actually allowed for the discovery of some hidden Witches and Wizards whose magical ability was so small it was nearly undetectable.

But nothing in the school's Library had information on Muggle technology that would be helpful. So Luna and Draco sat at one of the tables and tried to think of ways they could find information in the Muggle world instead.

"Maybe we can ask Hermione? She may have learned something prior to finding out she was a Witch, I doubt her love of books started here." Draco suggested.

"That's true, she would be a good source of information, however, I have been thinking about it and I might have an idea." Luna replied.

"Oh yea, what is it?"

"Well, you know Daddy is the editor for the Quibbler. I remember something in one of the issues from a couple of years ago that dealt with giving Muggles magic powers, but I can't remember exactly what it was supposed to do or how it worked. I could write to him and have him send me a copy; it could be here in a couple of days." Luna said this with a normal tone of voice but she was watching Draco intently.

Draco considered for a moment. The Quibbler was notorious for taking the most insane ideas and rumors and publishing them as fact, and trying to do a school project based off the information in the highly questionable magazine might not only cost them a grade, but also make them a laughing stock.

However, part of being a Ravenclaw meant you took nothing for granted. Just because something hadn't been proven didn't mean it wasn't real. Since they currently had no good leads on anything there was no reason not to look at both this and still speak with Hermione. There were other Muggle-borns who may have heard things as well. It was a pitty the project was due before the holiday break instead of after, this would have given the Muggle-born students time to ask their families questions as well.

"That sounds like a good idea Luna, you can do that and while we wait for it to arrive we can talk with Hermione as well. We can do interviews with the students who have Muggle family and maybe something will shake loose for us to use in the project." They should have plenty of time to come up with something before they had to turn in the subject matter.

They left the Library and went to Gryffindor tower, Draco knew where it was because he had staked it out years ago when he was trying to spy on Harry. When they got there they asked the Fat Lady to let it be known somebody was at the entrance.

Less than a minute later Dennis Creevey pushed open the portrait but before Draco could say anything he had yanked it shut again. Draco had gotten only a glimpse of his face but what he saw wasn't good. He shared a look with Luna and then asked again for the Fat Lady to announce visitors. This time it was longer before the entrance again opened. Instead of Dennis it was a girl that Draco didn't recognize who pushed open the portrait. "Don't let that bastard in here Jess!" Draco was sure it was Dennis yelling in the background. The girl held the edge of the portrait with one hand and only opened it far enough for her to see out, Draco and Luna moved to where they would be easily visible.

"If we don't ask them what they want, why would you think they would leave Dennis?" She called back, clearly exasperated.

Draco reached out and put a hand on Luna's arm, she had opened her mouth to say something and Draco didn't think it would be good. "Hi, Luna and I were wondering if Hermione is in, we'd like to talk with her."

The girl named Jess looked back into the room, just as the door was pushed out of her hand. An enraged Dennis Creevey stood in the opening. "The only reason I would tell anybody you were here would be to warn them Malfoy. You may have others fooled but I know better, you should be in prison with the rest of your Deatheater and murdering friends. Now you and your Deatheater girlfriend get the hell out of here before I do something you'll regret."

Dennis's voice was pitched low, but because of the anger behind it, it carried very well down the hall and in the common room. Everybody in there had turned to stare at the entrance. To say they were stunned would be understating it, Dennis, like his older brother, was (or had been) very friendly and almost overly enthusiastic. None of them had ever heard Dennis so much as raise his voice before and it caught their attention.

"Leave Malfoy, before I make sure you pay for what you've done." Dennis grabbed the portrait and started to close it again. Draco was frozen; the color in his face had drained away. He had never heard such hatred in a voice before, at least not from a non-Deatheater. He took a step back, but Luna took one forward, and stopped Dennis from closing the portrait.

Before Draco could react, before any of them could, Dennis had pulled out his wand and pointed it at Luna. Luna's body flew back and when she hit the wall, the sound of her head cracking against it was deafening. Luna slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Jess screamed and the entire common room came rushing forward, ready to defend Dennis, wands coming out.

Draco let out an inarticulate yell and rushed to Luna's side before the sound of others running penetrated his brain. With a roar he turned on the entrance to Gryffindor tower and pulled out his wand. A red haze had settled over his vision and all he could think was that he had to hurt them, they had hurt his sister and they would pay for it.

Before he could say anything though, or even think it, the wand flew out of his hand as he heard a familiar voice yell "Expelliarmus!" and he fell back against the wall.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Draco?" Harry yelled, wand pointed squarely at Draco's chest.

Draco, didn't hear him. Wand gone, he pushed to his feet, intent only on reaching Dennis physically but Harry moved forward and met him face to face, Harry's wand now pointed right at Draco's head. He had no choice but to stop or be impaled.

"Back off Malfoy before you get hurt!"

But Draco wasn't listening, he slapped Harry's wand to the side and pushed past as Dennis yelled, "Let the bastard through!"

Draco heard nothing, everybody else in the room gasped and a few screamed when Draco charged the few feet that separated him and Dennis Creevey. Even as Dennis yelled "Crucio!" Draco had grabbed his wand with his left hand and punched the younger, smaller boy right in the face. Dennis fell backward and Draco went with him, still holding the boy's wand hand. Before anybody could react, Draco had punched Dennis two more times. When he felt himself grabbed from behind he twisted the wand out of Creevey hand. Even as he was pulled back, he took the wand in both hands and snapped it cleanly in two.

Dennis Creevey was moaning on the ground, Harry and Ron held Draco fast, keeping him from reaching the younger boy. Hermione and Ginny pushed through the crowd and seeing Luna sprawled in the hallway, blood pooling under her head, ran to her.

"Luna!" Ginny cried, dropping to her knees beside the still blond girl.

"Draco! What did you do to her?" Hermione yelled, even as she too, dropped down at Luna's side.

"It wasn't him!" Draco stopped struggling to reach Dennis, his attention immediately refocused on Luna, his abrupt change of direction threw Harry and Ron off balance and he broke free, moving quickly to the only sister he would ever have.

"What do you mean Jess, who did it then if not Malfoy?" Ron yelled, clearly inclined to believe anything of Draco Malfoy.

The girl burst into tears, "It was Dennis, they just came to ask to talk to Hermione and Dennis attacked Luna." It was a little difficult to understand her through her tears but Harry got the point quickly.

"Dennis, why would Dennis attack Luna?" Ron asked, bewildered.

"That doesn't matter, we need to get her to Madam Pomfrey, she is bleeding really bad." Ginny said, holding one of Luna's hands and watching Draco through narrowed eyes, Luna's other hand tight in both of his.

In a voice so quiet only Ginny and Hermione could hear, Draco was saying "I'm sorry" over and over again to the still girl.

Professor Sinistra came hurrying up to the crowd of children. She had been named Head of House of Gryffindor after Professor McGonagall was named Headmistress. While not a member of Gryffindor house when she attended school, the students respected her greatly because of her defense of Hogwarts last year.

"What is going on here, The Fat Lady came screaming that a girl has been attacked!" She looked around and her eyes grew wide at the sight of Luna lying on the floor with the pool of blood under her head still growing. Ginny and Hermione were in tears, as were all the other girls, many of the boys had wands out, some half pointed at Draco, the others half pointing at Dennis who was still moaning on the ground just inside the common room.

Harry spoke up, "I'm not sure Professor but it involves Draco and Dennis, and Luna has been hurt. A couple of kids have already run to get Madam Pomfrey."

"Professor!" Ginny called out, "She's bleeding a lot and she's not waking up." Professor Sinistra moved to kneel at Luna's head, slowing moving her wand over the unmoving girl.

"She has a cut on her head, but head wounds look worse than they typically are. For anything deeper we need to wait for Madam Pomfrey, we can't move her until she says its ok." Saying this she did mutter a quick charm that siphoned up much of the blood that lay on the ground.

Dennis Creevey had been helped to his feet by some class mates and seemed to be regaining his wits. His broken wand lay at his feet and he stared at it a moment before starting to struggle against the hands that held him up. It was clear to everybody he was trying to reach Draco.

"I'll make you pay Malfoy, you'll be sorry you ever messed with the Creevey's, I swear!" Dennis screamed.

Harry turned to Dennis and without a pause used his wand to silence the boy. Dennis continued to mouth words for a while before realizing he couldn't hear himself, he turned his glare on Harry at that point. Clearly mouthing the word "Traitor".

"I don't know what your problem is Dennis, but you need to get a grip. If what Jess says is true, you are in more than enough trouble already. Don't make it worse for yourself." Dennis made a rude gesture and Harry sighed as he turned away.

Professor Sinistra looked up at the commotion and simply nodded at Harry's actions. Pointing to the three boys holding Dennis she said "You three, take him up to the Hospital Wing, stay with him and ensure he doesn't leave that room." She turned to Harry "Harry, would you go ask the Headmistress to meet us there?"

"Yes Ma'am." All four said together and moved off to follow their orders. Dennis continued to struggle, his words still inaudible but the meaning clear to everybody. He kicked out at Draco as he was pulled past him. Draco merely looked up and snarled, a sound nobody had ever heard come from Draco before and it surprised Ginny and Hermione sitting near him.

Draco was pacing outside the Hospital Wing while Ginny, Hermione, Ron and what seemed half of Gryffindor house looked on when Professor McGonagall hurried into the waiting room. She took in the full room and said "Wait here!" and then went into the Infirmary.

Some time later the Headmistress came back out, shutting the door behind her. "First, Miss Lovegood is going to be fine, Madam Pomfrey will be out later. Now, Mr. Potter, what happened?" She asked.

"I'm not entirely sure Headmistress, when I got there Luna was already hurt and Draco was going after Dennis.

"That crazy kid attacked Luna!" Draco ground out.

McGonagall turned her attention to Draco "Why would Mr. Creevey attack Miss Lovegood?"

"I don't know! He was yelling at me, I got that he was mad at me, but I don't know why he would attack Luna." Draco sat, hard, on the floor where he had been standing. "If she doesn't wake up, it will be all my fault." Draco dropped his head into his hands, and his shoulders started to shake.

Everybody in the room, except Harry and the Headmistress were stunned by Draco's actions. The idea of Malfoy caring about anybody was more than they could accept. Even though they had thought they understood that he had changed, it had not really been something they believed.

"Excuse me Headmistress?" Jess spoke up, almost too quiet to be heard. "I saw everything."

Again the Headmistress shifted her attention, this time from the crying blond boy to Jess Winter, a 4th year student in Gryffindor house. After a moment she turned to speak to everybody. "Did anybody else see everything that happened?"

After receiving several heads shaking in denial, she released all the other students accept Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Draco and Jess. She got them all to sit down as she went over to Draco. Very quietly she said "Come Draco, up to go, come sit over here." She gently drew Draco to his feet and moved him to a chair along the wall. Once this was done she turned to Jess.

"Ok Miss Winters, tell me what happened."

After Jess had told what happened and Harry added the information he had she leaned back in her seat, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Let me see if I have this right, for some reason Mr. Malfoy and Miss Lovegood came to Gryffindor house to talk to Miss Granger. When they arrived Mr. Creevey became very upset and threatened Mr. Malfoy and ordered them to leave. Mr. Malfoy backed up, Miss Lovegood moved forward, apparently to stop Mr. Creevey from closing the portrait hole, at which point Mr. Creevey pulled his wand and attacked Miss Lovegood." McGonagall paused and looked to Jess for verification.

"Yes Ma'am."

"Mr. Malfoy was going to then attack Mr. Creevey but Mr. Potter showed up and disarmed him. Mr. Malfoy then pushed past Mr. Potter to physically attack Mr. Creevey who was continuing to throw insults. Mr. Creevey then tried to use the Cruciatus curse on Mr. Malfoy but was stopped when Mr. Malfoy punched him?"

She received nods from everybody but Draco who still had his face in his hands.

She took a deep breath, "Mr. Creevey had to be sedated since he couldn't be calmed down. Have any of you noticed Mr. Creevey acting strangely or voicing such anger before today?"

"No, Dennis has always been one of the nicest kids, a little quieter than in past years, but understandable I think." This was from Harry, everybody else just stated they hadn't noticed anything.

"It was like he turned into a different person when he saw Draco Ma'am. I had no idea he hated him that much and I don't know why he does. Unless….." Jess trailed off.

"Continue Miss Winters." McGonagall prompted.

"Well, from the things he was saying, I think he was blaming Draco for his brother's death."

"Why wouldn't he." Draco said.

They all turned to look at him, his head was up, his eyes bright and cheeks wet.

"I blame myself all the time, I was one of them, it would make sense for him to blame me. Nobody else is left for him to blame. I would be a constant reminder that his brother is dead and that those I was with did it." Draco's eyes grew hard now "But that does not excuse his attacking Luna, she has never hurt anybody. I don't regret hitting him for that."

The Headmistress regarding Draco for a moment and then turned to the others, "You may all go, do try and quell the worst rumors before they get completely out of hand. While I don't recommend you broadcast the entire story, too many students heard what Mr. Creevey tried to do to keep it from being public knowledge, do try and ensure the truth is out there. That Mr. Creevey was acting out of character and that Mr. Malfoy did nothing wrong in defending himself or Miss Lovegood. Am I understood?

"Yes Ma'am" they all chorused once more. At that they all stood and left, Harry was last and laid a hand on Draco's shoulder a moment, once Draco met his eyes Harry nodded and left the room.

Professor McGonagall turned her attention entirely on Draco at this point.

"I cannot excuse fighting Draco, however, in this case it was obvious that you were acting out of self-defense and in defense of others. There will not be punishment for you on this. That being said, it appears you have more enemies than we thought, additional cautions would not be out of order."

Draco just nodded, his eyes going to the door of the Infirmary.

"Miss Greengrass and Miss Dawlish are waiting in the hall to see you. I will send them in when I leave. Before I go, in order to ensure I know all the facets of the situation, am I correct in thinking that you and Miss Lovegood have an understanding?" The Professor seemed uncomfortable asking this question.

Draco snorted softly in amusement "No Ma'am, Luna is like a sister to me, she's special, but not like that."

"Ah, then is there another girl you have an interest in? I only ask because it is important to ensure she is protected as much as possible."

"Luna and Helen are like sisters to me. Astoria and I have an 'understanding', but it's still new. No matter what they are all special and they all need to be protected. Those who would hurt me, won't care if one is more special than another."

"Very well, there is something I can do but I don't want it to be public knowledge. When you come next week for your meeting with Professor Dumbledore I will have something ready for you. You are to keep this a secret, even from the three young women, are we agreed?"

"Yes Ma'am, I understand."

"Good." The Headmistress stood "I will leave you now; Madam Pomfrey will be out shortly to give you a status update." Like Harry she came over to him and put one hand on his shoulder, "Do try to be careful Draco. While your path is not easy, I think it is an important one."

That was the understatement of the century, his path wasn't easy? Draco would have laughed if he didn't want to cry again.

Helen and Astoria rushed into the room and Draco stood up. He was enveloped in a group hug from the girls. It was obvious they had been crying but now they hugged him like he was the one who needed reassurance from them rather than the other way around.

When they finally released each other Astoria stayed in front of him. She reached up and lightly touched his cheek with one hand. "Are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine." He placed his hand over hers on his cheek, leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips. Astoria smiled slightly under the kiss. Soon however, they broke apart and both girls listened as he explained what had happened.

Astoria, as he expected, was livid. That they would be attacked like that was unthinkable and once again Draco had to wonder how she didn't end up in Gryffindor with her fierce protective instincts.

As they waited to hear about Luna, Draco idly thought that he never did get to talk with Hermione. He decided that when they were done here he would arrange to have an owl deliver his request to speak with her, that way they could meet without it becoming common knowledge. Then, when Luna got out of the Hospital Wing they would be able to move on with their project.

After what felt like hours but was really only about 30 minutes Madam Pomfrey opened the door to the Infirmary. "Miss Lovegood is awake now; you may visit with her for a few minutes but only a few minutes. She needs to rest."

"Is she going to be ok?" Helen asked.

"She is going to be fine; she took a nasty hit to the head, which resulted in a minor concussion but that has been healed. She is feeling weak, dizzy and a little confused but that will pass with a good night's sleep. She will be staying here overnight and tomorrow, she can probably be released tomorrow afternoon."

"What about Creevey?" Draco asked, a slight growl in his voice. Helen and Astoria each put a hand on his arm.

"Mr. Creevey will also be fine, but I ask that you not go near him or his bed. Something more is going on with him and we've had to sedate him. But Mr. Creevey is not your concern right now."

"Not my concern?!" He nearly killed Luna, he tried to use an unforgivable curse on me, how is he not my concern." Draco was starting to see red again.

However, before he could work up a full head of steam, it was all let out of him. "There are indications that Mr. Creevey was not acting entirely of his own free will. Until we get to the bottom of this, it is not my place to discuss it further, even with you Mr. Malfoy." The nurse was more abrupt that was normal, even for her and Draco decided not to pursue it. If it turned out that something else was influencing the kids it would be terrible for moral in the school. Draco looked at the two girls at his sides and they all nodded.

"Ok, we'll keep quiet but you'll let the Headmistress know what we know I assume?"

"Of course."

"Good."

With that Draco and the girls moved into the Infirmary to see Luna, paler than ever, with a bandage around her head lying on one of the beds. Her eyes had dark marks under them, and she looked something like a very pale raccoon. The girls moved to either side of her bed and each took a hand in theirs. Draco moved to the foot of the bed and looked at her as she lay quiet and still on the white sheets.

He reached out a hand and rested it on one of her legs; very quietly he repeated what he had been saying to her in the hall as she lay bleeding. "I'm so sorry Luna, I'm sorry you ever got mixed up in this."

"If I were smart, I would leave all three of you alone, it's not safe to be around me."

Helen and Astoria looked up at him, "You better not!" Astoria said.

"Ravenclaw may not be brave like Gryffindor, or selfless like Hufflepuff or ….whatever it is Slytherin is. But logic dictates that if you don't have support those who are trying to hurt you will succeed and that would impact us no matter what. You can't keep us from getting hurt if you getting hurt is what hurts us." Helen said.

From the bed came another voice of reason. Soft, tired but there. "We are family, and family helps each other, even when it seems impossible." Luna said.

The four friends spent a couple of minutes reassuring Luna that Draco was ok after which Luna was given a very quick and shortened version of what happened. Draco didn't even have time to think about what the three girls had said, but his heart was warmed by their support.

"I thought something was wrong with Dennis, his spirit didn't feel right." Luna seemed unsurprised by anything they told her, but then again, she never seemed surprised by much of anything. Once again, they got the impression that Luna was more Fey then anybody thought.

Madam Pomfrey came out of her office at that moment, indicating that their time was up.

"We'll see you in the morning Luna, promise; you just get some rest and get better." Astoria told her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Yea, get better and don't think about anything." Helen kissed her on the other cheek.

After the two girls had moved aside, Draco moved up beside Luna. "Thank you for being there for me Luna, thank you for being my family." He leaned in closer and whispered, "I love you little sister."

Luna's eyes started to close as she started to drift off. "Sister, I remember now, the article in my dad's paper was about Rowena Ravenclaw's little sister and the Phoenix Ring." With each word Luna's voice got quieter.

"Later Luna, sleep now." Draco kissed her on the forehead and after a moment looking down on the most precious girl he had ever known, he turned to the two women at the end of the bed. Together the three of them left the room.

In the hospital bed a blond girl dreamed of another blond girl who with the help of the beautiful ring her sister had given her, could make rainbows with the wave of her hand.

**Another chapter down. I hope you all liked it. Make sure and comment, vote and let me know what you think.**


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